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HARMS WORTH
HISTORY
OF THE WORLD J^l
KING EDWARD VII.
rroin the statue l.j George Wade crcctt-il at Rendini;
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SEVENTH VOLUME
The Re-Making
OF Europe
The European
Powers To-day
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CARMELITE HOUSE
LONDON
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The Brt;sh
Empire
The Atlantic
OCFAN
K
CONTENTS
OF THIS VOLUME
S:XTH
SIXTH GRAND DIVISION
EUROPE
DIVISION— THE RE-MAKING
OF EUROPE
General Survey of Europe since 1 8 1 5
EUROPE AFTER WATERLOO
The Great Powers in Concord
The British Era of Reform
Queen Victoria in Her Coronation Robe
Colour plate facinj
The Reaction in Central Europe
The Restored French Monarchy
The Cross and the Crescent
Fall of the Bourbon }iIonarchy
The New Revolutionary Period
The Welding of the States
The New Kingdom of Greece . .
The State of Religion in Europe
The Spread of Liberalism
EUROPE IN REVOLUTION
The Fall of Louis Philippe
Italy's Fruitless Revolt
The Hungarian Rebellion
Struggles of the German Duchies .
The Second Republic in France
The Problem of the German States
Reaction in Central Europe
THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE POWERS
Saving the Colours facing
The United Kingdom intheMid-\'ictorian
Era
Turkey after the Crimean \\"ar
The Second Empire of France
The L'nification of Italy
Prussia Under King William I
Prussia and Austria on the Eve of \^'ar. .
The Advance of Prussia
The Prussian Ascendancy
The Decline of Napoleon HI
The French Soldiers' Unrealised Dream
of Victory facing
The Downfall of the Second French
Empire
The Birth of the German Empire . .
Scandinavia in the Nineteenth Century. .
EUROPE SINCE 1871
The Close of the ^'ictorian Era
Peace with Honour facing
Reaction Triumphant in Russia
The German and Austrian Empires
France L'nder the Third Republic . .
Minor States of ^^'estcrn Europe . .
4779
4791
4797
4817
4825
4839
4849
4859
4871
4881
4887
4892
4898
4905
4925
4933
4943
4949
4957
4970
4975
4975
5005
5015
5033
505 1
5063
5069
5081
5093
51^5
5153
5163
5193
5193
5^13
5 --3
S2i2
THE SOCIAL QUESTION
Britain's Industrial Revolution . . . . 5237
The Rise and Fall of Chartism .. .. 5245
The Triumph of Trades Unions . . . . 5249
The March of Social Reform 5255
Social Problems in France 5260
Social Democracy in Germany . . . . 5268
Great Dates from the French Revolution
to Our Own Time 5-279
SEVENTH DIVISION
EUROPEAN POWERS TO-DAY
Glimpses of Europe's Capital Cities . . 5281
Russia 5295
Turkey, Greece, and the Balkans . . . . 5317
Austria-Hungary 5329
Germany .. 5339
Holland and Belgium 5357
The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg . . . . 5362
Switzerland 5365
Italy 5371
The Republic of San Marino 5375
France 5377
The Principality of Monaco 5 396
The Republic of Andorra 5397
Spain 5401
Portugal 5406
The Scandinavian States 54ii
United Kingdom 5417
Tvpes of British Battleships 5425
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
The Empire in the Making 5441
British Trade and the Flag 5465
Slave Trade as a Factor in Colonial
Expansion 5473
Colonies Grown from Convict Settle-
ments 5479
Wars of the Empire 5483
British Conquests in the East . . . . 5497
Britain's Contests in Africa 5509
Fighting Forces of the British Empire. . 5525
Outposts of Empire 5537
Composition of the Empire 5545
Great Britain's Inner Empire . . . . 5557
Parliaments of the Outer Empire .. .. 5573
The Sinews of Empire 55^1
British Expansion in Europe 5599
British Expansion in America . . . . 5610
Britain's Great Indian Empire .. .. 5615
British Expansion in Africa 5623
.Man's Triumph over Nature 5631
Civilisation and Christianity 5639
The Future of the Empire 5644
THE ATLANTIC O^EAN
The Atlantic Before Columbus . . . . 5657
The Age After Columbus 5663
i
GENERAL SURVEY OF THE PERIOD
By Oscar Brow^ning, M.A.
THE CONTINENT
By Dr. H. Zimmerer, Dr. Heinrich Schurtz,
Dr. Georg Adler, Dr. G. Egelhaaf,
Dr. H. Friedjung, and other writers
EUROPE
SIXTH DIVISION
THE RE-MAKINQ OF
EUROPE
We enter now upon the last phase of completed European
history — the century which has all but run its course since the
decisiv5 overthrow of Napoleon's ambitions at Waterloo.
Although during this period the United Kingdom and the
Eastern Powers, Russia and the whole Eastern peninsula,
pursue their course in comparative independence of the com-
plications which involve the rest of Europe, the latter being no
longer in isolation sufficient to warrant us in maintaining the
earlier complete separation of East and West.
Following immediately after Waterloo, we have a period of
strong reaction against the political ideas of the French
Revolution, a period 'in which the claims to power and
to territory of "legitimate" dynasties are looked upon as
paramount, while the control of the Sovereign People and
demands for the recognition of nationalities are held in check,
though Greece attains her liberation from Turkey. The second
period opens and closes with two revolutions in France — the
expulsion of the Bourbons and the coup d'etat of Napoleon III.
During this period the demands of Constitutionalism and of
Nationalism are fermenting, Germany in particular making
futile efforts in the latter direction. The third period coincides
with that of the Second Empire in France, and is marked by
the unification of Italy and the triumph of German nationalism
in the new German Empire, consummated by the Franco-
German war, and attended by the establishment of the Third
French Republic.
Finally we follow the fortunes of the novi reconstructed
Europe — the whole narrative having interludes associated with
the modern Eastern Question — until we reach our own day.
THE BRITISH ISLES
By A. D. Innes. M.A., and H. W. C. Davis, M.A.
477:
MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE SIXTH DIVISION OF EUROPE
The above map shows the Europe of our own time, with the boundaries of the various states as we know them
to-day. The period thus illustrated is not the whole of the time covered by "The Re-making- of Europe," but rather
the eventual settlement of the Continent, as a result of the movements which were initiated on the downfall of Napoleon,
and involved such international conflicts as the Crimean War, the Italian revolt against Austria, the Franco- Prussian,
the Russo-Turkish, and the Greco-Turkish wars. The changes in the m.p of Europe since the close of the
Franco-Prussian War have been insignificant. The areas within 250 and 50li miles of the coast are also indicated.
GENERAL SURVEY OF THE PERIOD
By Oscar Browning, M.A.
EUROPE SINCE THE YEAR 1815
D EFORE the French Revolution Europe
•*-' was in a condition of unstable equili-
brium. Anyone who studies the condition
of the map of Europe in the last years of
the eighteenth century will perceive this
to be the case. France, Spain, and Great
Britain were in a fairly homogeneous
situation, but the position of the rest of
Europe was intolerable. The German
Empire, the mere phantom of its glorious
past, was honeycombed by the territories
of ecclesiastical princes, while its neigh-
bours, Hungary and Poland, better con-
solidated than itself, were a menace to
its permanence. Russia was in the throes
of expansion to the east, west, and south.
The Turkish Empire, when it crossed the
Bosphorus, found itself ruling dominions
which it could not hope to maintain,
and which were now slipping from its
grasp. Greece and Bosnia, Moldavia and
Wallachia, Servia and Bulgaria were
moving from a position of subjection
to vassalage, from vassalage to indepen-
dence. Berlin was divided from Konigs-
berg by a long stretch of territory which
could not in any sense be called Prussian.
Italy was cut up into a number
of impotent and warring states,
he crossed the Channel found it reduced
to nothing before his return by the charges
of perpetual discount. The awakening was
rude. Sluggish Europe shook herself to
resist the dangers of the Revolution.
She threatened to march to Paris to
punish the regicide miscreants who bore
^. n . swav in the capital, and to
The Rude - - '^
Awakening
of Europe
restore the Bourbon to his
throne. But regenerated France
Barriers to
European
Solidarity
which denied it a voice in
European affairs. Naples and
Sicily were parts of Spain. Norway was
a part of Denmark. There was no soli-
darity, no unity in the component parts ;
railways, had they existed, would have
been impossible, commerce was impeded
by every kind of artificial barrier. A
traveller who changed a sovereign when
laughed gaily at this unwieldy
Titan. She threw ofi with ease the attacks
directed against the missionaries of a new
political gospel, and carried war into the
territories of those who had assailed her.
Her generals were everywhere victorious ;
but from among them arose Napoleon, the
greatest of all generals of modern times.
It is too common to represent this
commanding genius as a man of blood —
insatiable with slaughter, uncontrolled
in ambition, and regardless of the
sacrifices with which it might be grati-
fied. The empire of Napoleon was, at
least in part, a carrying out of the
programme of the Directory, and the
consummation of the efforts which
France had originally begun to resist
intrusion. When that empire had reached
its height, it was. either in direct govern-
ment or in powerful influence, nearly
coterminous with civilised Europe, with
the exception of Russia and England,
who remained imsubdued. Spain and
Portugal were under France, Belgium and
Holland were a part of her dominions, the
kingdom of Italy reached to the frontier
of Naples, and Naples was French.
4779
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Switzerland was devoted to the man who
had given her a good government, the
Confederation of the Rhine inchided the
kingdom of Westphaha as well as the
tributary states of Saxony, Bavaria,
Wurtemberg, and Baden ; Scandinavia
listened to the advice of the Tuileries ;
Prussia was reduced to insignificance.
The Grand Duchy of War-
saw, a French creation, lay as
The Unstable
Empire
of Napoleon
a buffer state between Prussia
and Austria ; and Austria,
having given an empress to the French
throne, was in a position in which her
best hope of influence and power lay in
her alliance with Napoleon, a position
which she had not the wisdom to realise.
But Napoleon's empire was itself in a
condition of instability. What form it
would have taken if he had continued to
reign, we do not know. The claims of
nationality had begun to assert themselves
before his fall — indeed, they had been to
a large extent the cause of his ruin ; and
if he desired to rear a lasting edifice he
must have found a way of reconciling
them with his scheme of a European
Empire. He wished for a second son,
and if such a one had been born and
grown to manhood, or at least to ado-
lescence, the formation of a united Italy
might have been anticipated by many
years. But his empire, constituted as it
was, was certain to perish at his fall, and
his fall came sooner than was expected.
We do not yet completely know the
causes of the great Russian war, and we
cannot properly apportion the blame of
it between the emperor and the tsar.
He believed that this would have been his
last enterprise, his last war. Russia once
brought to his feet, Europe would be at
peace. But he miscalculated the difficulty
of the task, and the stohd stubbornness
of Russian resistance. Fortune turned
against him, his star paled, and his em-
pire was no more. It is a mistake to sup-
^. ^ . pose that he could have made
The Fatal ^ _ . . _ ..
Error of the
Hapsburgs
peace at Frankfort or at Chatil-
lon; the terms offered him
were delusive, and were in-
tended to be so by Metternich. Had
Austria obeyed the voice of honour and
of interest the empire might have been
preserved, but by deserting these funda-
mental principles, the empire of the
Hapsburgs, which has made so many
mistakes, committed a last fatal error,
which it has since most bitterly expiated.
4780
The Congress of Vienna endeavoured to
repair the shattered fabric, but the un-
prejudiced observer will not credit the
diplomatists of that assembly with
much wisdom or with much prescience.
Ignorant of, or ignoring, the principle of
nationality, which has since governed the
world with a dominating force, they were
led by Talleyrand to adopt the principle
of legitimacy, which they had not the
courage to follow out when it became a
question of punishing Napoleon's friends
or rewarding his enemies. Consequently,
many arrangements of Vienna have been
upset. Belgium has been divorced from
Holland, Norway from Sweden, Prussia
has united its severed territories and
secured the headship of Germany. Italy
has consolidated herself at the expense
of the provinces and the prestige of
Austria ; and Turkey has lost, one after
another, the dominions which it was a
disgrace to civilisation that she should
have held at all.
The change from the Restoration which
succeeded the fall of Napoleon to the
conditions of the present day is divided
. , into certain well-defined epochs
ritain s j^g^j-j^g(j by periods of disturb-
Electoral -^ ^ , .• tu
_ , ,. ance, wars, or revolutions, ihe
Revolution • i 1 ^ o jo
period betv/een 1820 and 1830
is one of disheartening reaction, controlled
by a desire to suppress everything which
could remind the world of the principles
of 1789, and to undo everything which
the administrative ability of the great
emperor had accomplished. This led to
the Revolution of July, accompanied
by other disturbances in Europe, and
indirectly to the emancipation of the
Catholics in England and the Reform Bill
of 1832. It is characteristic of our country
that the only revolution which we have
experienced since the close of the seven-
teenth century has been an alteration in
our electoral system, a change quite as im-
portant as, and more permanent than, any
which has taken place in any other country.
After 1830 the democratic strivings of
the nations of the Continent were either
suppressed or appeased, but the fire
broke out with greater intensity in 1848,
when a series of revolutions either shook
or shattered every throne in Europe but
our own. Then followed a series of
wars — the Crimean war of 1854, the
Italian war of 1859, ^^^^ Danish war
of 1863, the Austrian war of 1866, and
the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Since
THE RE - MAKING OF EUROPE : GENERAL SURVEY
1870 Europe has been at peace, and the
severance of Norway from Sweden and
the final consohdation of Italy have been
brought about without an actual conflict.
Belgium is no longer the cockpit of
Europe— that has to be sought further
afield. Rivalries which have a European
side to them are fought out in Asia and
in Africa, and we dread the time when
the horrors of war may possibly be brought
within our own experience.
Yet progress, in which international
jealousies must have a part, still goes on,
and war, if averted, is often threatened.
The world knows of many mortal struggles
which have never taken place, but which
have been regarded as inevitable by well-
informed and responsible statesmen. At
one time we were certain to have a war
with Russia, at another time with France,
at another time with America, and a final
war with Germany is looked upon by so
many as the doom of fate that they
think it useless to discuss its probability
or even to take means to avert it. If the
possibility of these catastrophes is known
to the public at large, how many are in
the cognisance of Ministers who
are acquainted with the secrets
of foreign affairs ? Happily,
the past is quite sufficient to
occupy the historian, without troubling
too much about the future.
Let us consider separately the effect of
each of these crises on the course of
European politics. The Revolution of
July in Paris had broken out as a quarrel
between the people and the king; it ended
by establishing the authority of the
people. The royal title was changed from
King of France to King of the French.
The Charter was a Bill of Rights on the
English model, dear to the heart of Guizot.
It fixed the limits within which the people
were willing to accept the government of
a king. It was a decided advance towards
democracy. The new constitution which
followed the Revolution in Belgium was
framed on similar lines, and in the spirit
of the English Revolution of 1688.
It laid down the principle that all power
emanated from the people, and that the
king possessed no authority beyond that
given him by the constitution. He
could do no executive act except through
the Ministers, and they were responsible
to the Chambers. If the Ministers failed
to command a majority in Parliament,
it was their duty to retire. The English
French
Revolution
of 1850
colour of these arrangements seems to
have suited the character of the Belgian
people and the temper of the king.
The Revolution of July produced a
powerful effect upon Switzerland, and
inaugurated what is called the Period of
Regeneration. It began with a move-
rhent to reform the constitutions of some
_ . . ..of the cantons, in order to
Switzerland s • 1 -4.1 „
. give a share m the govern-
n^"" ° ° ,. ment to classes who did not
Regeneration •. 'ni t> t. r
possess it. The torest Can-
tons, the ancient heart of Switzerland,
remained passive, but the population of
the others bombarded their Governments
with petitions for reform, and reform was
speedily accorded. Ziirich was the leader
of the movement. The programme of the
radical party was sovereignty of the
people, universal suffrage, direct election,
freedom of the Press, of petition, of
religious belief, and of industry.
The movement was essentially demo-
cratic, and the struggle became so severe
that the Federal Government had to inter-
vene. The Canton of Basle was separated
into two half cantons, Basle Town and
Basle Country. Seven cantons formed
a separate confederation, and a counter
league was organised to oppose it. The
conflict, embittered by the presence of
refugees from other disturbed countries,
lasted till the convulsions of 1848.
In Spain and Portugal the struggle
between the Constitutionals and the
Absolutists was complicated by a dis-
puted succession. In the first country,
Isabella was the watchword of the Liberals,
Don Carlos of the reactionaries, their
place being taken in Portugal by Maria
da Gloria and Don Miguel. In Italy the
agitation was more serious. It seized
upon the states which had not been affected
by the previous movements of 1820.
At Rome the death of Pius VIII. gave the
signal. Louis Napoleon took part in the
plot to make his uncle, Jerome, King
of Italy. In the Romagna and
Italy in ^j^^ Marches provisional govern-
a State of ^^^^^^^ ^^^ national guards were
the order of the day. Govern-
ments of this kind, with a dictator
at their head, were formed in Parma and
in Modena. But the movement came
to nothing. Louis Philippe would not
help, and Metternich was at hand with his
Austrian army. With their assistance he
brought back the Duke of Modena, and
pacified the States of the Church. But
4781
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the " Young Italy " of Mazzini was born
in the conflict, a secret society devoted to
the realisation of the unity of Italy under
the form of a republic. Eventually the first
object was attained, but the second was not.
A similar impulse animated the Liberals
of Germany, who had long been discon-
tented with the policy of the Holy Alliance.
The War of Liberation had
o an s o onlvsubiected them to a worse
Stand for j j
Independence
despotism than that of Napo-
leon. Brunswick, Hesse-Cassel,
Saxony, and Hanover obtained constitu-
tions ; in Bavaria and Baden men of
enlightened minds were allowed to express
themselves more freely. A stronger move-
ment took place in Poland, then divided
between two parties, the Whites and the
Reds. The Whites were composed of the
large proprietors, the higher officials, and
the clergy. Provided that Poland was
suffered to retain a nominal independence,
they were content to wait for constitutional
reforms. The Reds were patriots and demo-
crats, but they were violent and impatient.
In the last month of 1830, when the
emperor had mobilised the Polish army in
order to suppress the revolution in France
and Belgium, the national troops turned
against their oppressors. The students of
the Military College seized the palace at
Warsaw, and the Grand Duke Constantine
fled for his life. The Romanoff dynasty
was deposed, and the union of Poland with
Lithuania was proclaimed. Britain and
France were sympathetic, but refused to
give active assistance ; the Polish army
was crushed by superior numbers, and a
military dictator was set up. The end of
Poland had arrived. In 1835 the Emperor
Nicholas told the Poles plainly that unless
they gave up the dream of a separate
independent nationality the guns of the
newly built citadel should lay Warsaw in
ruins. We see, therefore, that the Rev'olu-
tion of July had made a great breach in
the system established by the Congress
p of Vienna. The Bourbons,
° * '*^* . who based their title on the
Changes m •• i j- i •. •
g . f prmciples of legitimacy, w^ere
succeeded by a king of the
barricades, professing the doctrines of 1789,
and waving its flag. The British Constitu-
tion remained unshaken, but the Reform
Bill of 1832 brought about a revolution
in the balance of political power not less
momentous than the others, because it was
pacific, and destined to produce results not
less important although slow in coming.
4782
Eighteen years later the Revolution broke
out with greaten violence, and spread with
the rapidity of a plague. It began in
Switzerland in 1847, showed itself in Sicily
in January, 1848, and overthrew the throne
of Louis Philippe in France in February
of the same year. The fall of monarchy in
France gave the signal for disturbances
throughout Europe. England, the Iberian
Peninsula, Sweden, Norway and Russia
alone escaped. In Holland, Belgium and
Denmark it ran a comparatively mild
course. The symptoms were more severe
in Austria, Prussia, Germany, and Central
Italy ; it led to bloodshed in Northern
Italy, Schleswig-Holstein, and Hungary.
The outbreak in Switzerland was the
result of a conflict which had been smoul-
dering for many years. It was caused by
two movements, one civil, the other
religious ; one an effort to democratise
the constitution, the other a desire to
restrain the influence of the Roman
Catholic Church. The Liberal party was
divided into Moderates and Radicals, but
the Moderates gradually lost their in-
fluence. The Radicals were strengthened
and stimulated by the refugees
. ^° " ^°^ of other nationalities, who had
e .^ , . found an asylum in Switzerland
Switzerland , ■, ■ -^ ^ r ^i •
when driven out of their own
countries. The Poles organised raids
against Neuchatel and Savoy ; Mazzini
used Switzerland as a place of arms.
Austria and Bavaria demanded the extra-
dition of German " patriots," and when this
was refused, broke off diplomatic relations.
France insisted upon the expulsion of the
supposed authors of the conspiracy of
Fieschi, and sealed their frontiers against
the passage of the stubborn Switzers.
A few years later they asked for the
surrender of Louis Napoleon, who had his
home at Arenenberg. The Catholics based
their hopes on the peasants, and posed as
the supporters of democracy. In Schytz
the two parties of " Horns " and " Hoofs "
came to blows over the use of the public
pastures ; in Canton Ticino, the Radicals
won by force of arms ; in the V' alley of the
Rhone the Upper and Lower districts were
in hopeless disorder. The Puritans of
Zurich drove Strauss, the author of the
" Life of Jesus," from his professorial
chair. The Jesuits succeeded in founding
Catholic Colleges at Schytz, Freiburg, and
Lucerne. Argau answered this challenge
by suppressing eight convents, and de-
manding the expulsion of the Order. The
THE RE - MAKING OF EUROPE : GENERAL SURVEY
result of this prolonged tension was a civil
war. In 1845 the seven Catholic cantons
formed a " sonderbund," a separate
league, which the government deter-
mined to svippress by force, and in three
weeks General Dufour effected this object.
The Radicals were victorious, the Jesuits
were expelled, and civil war was averted.
The result of this struggle was the forma-
tion of a new constitution, by which
Switzerland, from being a statenbund — a
confederation of states — became a federal
state — a bundesstat. A new nation came
to life in Europe.
The French Revolution of 1848 was
equally a surprise for the victors and the
vanquished. It raged for two days, the
first of which witnessed a revolt of the
reformers against Guizot, the second a
revolution of the Republicans against the
monarchy. At 10 a.m. on February 24th,
the Palais Royal was captured ; at 4.30
p.m. the throne was destroyed in the
Tuileries, and shortly afterwards the
Republic was proclaimed at the Hotel de
Ville. The result of this was a democratic
movement throughout Europe. In Holland
the personal government of
_* ^ '" . ^ the king was changed into a
Revolt against . .. .• 1 ^ ■
. . constitutional monarchy ; in
Belgium the Liberals were
confirmed in power ; in Denmark the
accession of a new king presented an
opportunity for substituting a constitution
for absolutism and for setting the Press free.
Italy was shaken from Monte Rosa to
Cape Passaro. The movement began in
Sicily, where for a fortnight in January
the insurgents fought against the Royal
troops, demanding the constitution of
1812. At Naples, Ferdinand accorded a
constitution based upon the French
Charte, and appointed a Carbonaro as
Prime Minister. At Turin, Charles Albert
promulgated a constitution, which, in
all the storm of conflict, has never
been abrogated, and the Grand Duke of
Tuscany did the same.
At Rome, Pio Nono nominated three
lay Ministers, but the supreme power
remained with the College of Cardinals.
The passionate desire of the Italians was to
shake off the hated domination of Austria.
They shouted, in the words of the
"Garibaldi hymn": " Va fuori d'ltalia,
va fuori o Stranier ! " [From Italy from
sea to snow, let the hated stranger go ! ]
For this the revolution in Vienna gave an
opportunity. Here the storm broke in
March, the direct consequence of the
French Revolution of February. The
desires of the people were voiced by book-
sellers, students, and Liberal clubs ; they
demanded liberty of religion, of teaching,
of speech, and of writing, and a budget
controlled by a representative govern-
ment. Their cry was : " Down with
Metternich ! Down with the
/c? ^ , soldiery!" and Metternich was
of St. Mark j- - j i-, n ^
. ,, . dismissed. The emperor fled
m Venice . , 1 t- 1 j ii a 1
to the lyrol, and the Arch-
duke John, the darling of the people, took
his place. A Constituent Assembly met
at Vienna in July. In Hungary, a country
better suited for self-government, the
change took a more solid shape. The seat of
Parliament was transferred from Pressburg
to Budapest. It issued a coinage, and
formed an army under the Hungarian tri-
colour. Austria was compelled to weaken
her garrisons in Italy in order to subdue
her revolted provinces north of the Alps.
In March, Milan rose, and Radetsky
retired within the Quadrilateral. Modena
and Parma were left to themselves, and
obtained constitutions. Cavour called the
Piedmontese to arms ; Tuscany, Rome and
Naples sent their troops to join their
brethren of the North. In Venice,
Daniele Manin, like-named but not like-
minded with the last Doge, awakened to
life a Republic of St. Mark. A revolution
was organised, at once Liberal, monarch-
ical, and national, under the three colours
of the Italian flag, the emblems of passion,
purity, and hope.
The dream of liberty was short lived.
It vanished before the approach of foreign
armies. The Austrians defeated the Sar-
dinians at Custozza, and reconquered the
whole of Lombardy. A still more fatal
blow fell at Novara, where Charles Albert
was routed in March, 1849, ^^'^ abdicated
in consequence. The crown came to his
son, Victor Emmanuel, who afterwards
became the first monarch of a united
Italy. Venice fell, after a long
siege, in August of the same
Modena and Parma,
who had joined themselves to
Piedmont, were occupied by Austria, and
their ducal governments were restored.
Tuscany suffered the same fate, and the
Grand Duke was compelled by the Aus-
trian army of occupation to abrogate the
constitution of 1848, so that his country
became less free than it was before the
revolution. Four Catholic Powers —
4783
The Siege
and Fall
of Venice •'
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
France, Spain, Austria, and Naples —
offered their assistance to the Pope, but
the main burden of recovering the Holy
City fell upon France. Rome, defended
by Mazzini and Garibaldi, was captured
in June, 1849 ; the Cardinals came into
power with Antonelli at their head. The
tricolour was surrendered. Italy was
c ,• again spht into fragments,
ta y pit (jgpgndent upon foreign force.
P ° Sardinia alone remained a
ragmeo s g^^.^^ ^^ liberty and hope.
In Austria, the champion of reaction, the
war of nationalities, which has always been
to her a danger, now proved her salvation.
A Panslavic Congress had been sum-
moned at Prague, which was attended
not only by Bohemians, Moravians, and
Silesians, but by Russians, Poles, and
Servians. But the Croatians turned
against the Magyars, and the South Slavs
against their brethren of the North.
Prague was bombarded and Bohemia
conquered ; the Croats marched upon
Budapest. The emperor, who had fled
from his capital and sought refuge in
Moravia, made a common war against the
German democrats and the Hungarian
rebels, who had chosen Kossuth as their
leader. Croats attacked Vienna from the
east, Bohemians from the north. After a
short struggle they were victorious ; the
Hungarians, who had come to the assist-
ance of the friends of liberty, were repulsed
and an absolute government was restored.
Hungary held out a little longer.
A Hungarian Republic was established,
with Kossuth as President. But the Rus-
sians declared themselves the enemies of
revolution, and Nicholas came to the aid of
his brother emperor. An army 80,000 strong
entered the country from the Carpathians.
The Magyars capitulated at Vilagos, pre-
ferring to fall into the hands of the
Russians rather than into those of their
ancient tyrants. Kossuth, after burying
the Hungarian crown, sought refuge in
_ _ . Turkey. Metternich was again
_ . .'^ master, and the last state of
^j jj the rebellious provinces was
"^^''^ worse than the first. Prussia
also had her " days of March," but here
the middle-classes stood aloof, and the
Liberals were left to fight out their battle
against the army.
The chief object of their attack was the
Prince of Prussia, brother of the king, who
was destined at a later period to be the
first Emperor of Germany. The king at
4784
first tried to temporise. He promised a
constitution, withdrew his troops, and
sent the Prince of Prussia to England. He
adopted the German tricolour, threw him-
self upon the affection of his Prussians,
and invoked the confidence of Germany.
He granted a written constitution and a
National Assembly elected by universal
suffrage. But he soon discovered his mis-
take, and was obliged to follow the example
of Austria. The army re-entered the capital,
took possession of the Parliament build-
ings, dissolved the National Guard, and
soon afterwards dispersed the Assembly.
Absolute government was restored, veiled
under the forms of a constitution.
The Provisional Government in France,
which succeeded the Orleans monarchy,
was formed by a coalition, and therefore
contained within itself the seeds of
dissolution. One party aimed at the
establishment of a democratic republic
based on universal suffrage, the other
desired a democratic and social republic,
the chief object of which should be the
elevation of the working classes. The
tricolour of 1789 was opposed by the red
flag of Louis Blanc. The battle
• Vk St**" raged round the organisation
'"f P^ • "^ ^ °^ labour and the establish-
ment of national workshops.
However, the Socialists had opposed to
them the whole of France and half the
capital, and they were unable to hold
their own. A civil war broke out in the
streets of Paris, and three days' fighting
was required for the capture of the
suburb of St. Antoine by General Cavaig-
nac. The Socialist prisoners were shot
or transported and their newspapers were
suppressed. Eventually a constitution
was agreed 'upon, which established a
single chamber, a president holding office
for four years, and a Council of State.
The president was to be chosen by
universal suffrage, and the election took
place on December loth, 1848. Ledru
Rollin was the candidate of the Socialists,
Cavaignac of the Democrats, but both
had to give way to Louis Napoleon, the
inheritor of a mighty name, who was
chosen by an overwhelming majority.
This election could have no other result
than the establishment of a monarchy.
The coup d'etat of December 2nd, 1851,
dissolved the Assembly, and arrested the
leaders of the Republican party. Follow-
ing the example of his uncle, Louis
Napoleon was first made president for
THE RE - MAKING OF EUROPE : GENERAL SURVEY
ten years, and shortly afterwards Emperor.
The plebiscite accepting him as Emperor
of the French was taken four years, to a
day, after he had been elected president.
By the events we have described
absolute government was established over
the whole of Europe, excepting Switzer-
land and the countries which had not
been affected by the revolutions of 1848.
However, France preserved her principle
of universal suffrage, Prussia and Sardinia
their constitutions, with the fixed resolve
of achieving the unity of Germany and of
Italy, founded on the principle of nation-
ality, which had been ignored by the
Congress of Vie'nna. We now pass from the
epoch of. revolutions to the epoch of war.
The Crimean War of 1854 belongs to
those events of history of which we do
not precisely know the cause. There are
probably few Englishmen who feel satisfied
with their country's share in it, or who
support it as an act of political wisdom.
There are few, also, who would deny that
we were led into it by the Emperor of
the French. Louis Napoleon came to the
throne of France pledged by conviction
and by honour to effect the
liberation of Italy from the
Austrian yoke. This could not
be done without war, and
although France was strong enough to
meet Austria in the field, she could not
contend against Austria and Russia united.
It therefore became necessary to weaken
Russia before such a war could be under-
taken, and the question of the Holy Places
was seized upon with great adroitness as
a colourable pretext for a war with Russia.
Britain was easily, too easily, stirred
to defend Turkey against aggression
and dismemberment, and thus a conflict
was begun of which we have little reason
to be proud. Russia was prepared to
meet an attack in the Baltic, in Poland,
or on the Danube, but the Crimea was
only feebly garrisoned. Still, Sebastopol
held out, and the resources of the allies
were strained to the utmost. A winter
campaign became necessary in a desert
country, subject to intense cold. The
British lost half their troops, and no
assistance came from Austria or Prussia.
In the spring of 1855 the Emperor
Nicholas died, and the war no longer had a
motive. However, it continued under his
successor, and Sebastopol did not fall until
six months afterwards. Napoleon was
ready to make peace, although Palmerston
The
Crimean
War
wished to go on fighting, and a treaty was
eventually concluded at the Congress of
Paris. Turkey lost the Danubian pro-
vinces, but the integrity of her empire was
guaranteed, while she promised reforms
of administration which were never carried
into effect. The navigation of the Danube
was declared free, and the Black Sea
^ neutral. Cavour had been
Consequences , \ a. • ■ .1
f tK clever enough to jom the
^ . ,„ alliance, although Sardinia
Crimean War , , ■ . . ",.
had no mterest, du-ect or m-
direct, in the questions in dispute. This
gave him a right to take part in the
congress, and the liberation of Italy
entered for the first time into the domain
of practical politics. The war undoubt-
edly raised the prestige of the French
Emperor, and gave him a commanding
position in European affairs. It called
Roumania into existence, and it recognised
the claims of nationality in Italy. It was
another blow to the principles of the
Congress of Vienna, and it weakened the
influence of Austria.
It will be seen from this narrative that
the Crimean War led directly to the
Italian War of 1859. By adroit diplo-
macy Austria was induced to invade
Sardinian territory, and the armies of
France crossed the Alps to defend her.
The two allied armies were able to con-
centrate at Alessandria before they could
be attacked in detail. The Fattle of
Magenta, having been lost in the morning,
was won in the afternoon, MacMahon
playing the part of Desaix at Marengo.
The Austrians evacuated Lombardy
and retired into the Quadrilateral to
defend Venetia. After a hard struggle
the Austrians were again defeated at Sol-
ferino, but the bloodshed had so unnerved
the emperor, and the quarrels between his
marshals had so disgusted him, that he
broke his promise of setting Italy free to
the Adriatic, and made a peace which
secured only Lombardy to Sardinia. He
received in exchange Savoy
The Damaged and Nice, but this second war
Prestige of ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^ j^^^ prestige as
Louis Napoleon ^j^^ first had been favour-
able. Italy alone profited by the result.
Parma, Modena, and Tuscany drove out
their dukes ; Romagna set herself free
from the Pope ; provisional governments
were established in these provinces, ready
for incorporation with the kingdom of
the House of Savoy. Cavour, who had
resigned after the Peace of V'illafranca.
4785
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
again became Prime Minister. The spell of
Austrian domination was broken, and the
establishment of an Italian kingdom, so
long the dream of poets and patriots,
became only a question of time.
The scene of our drama shifts to another
quarter. What Cavour had done for Italy
Bismarck was to' do for Germany. The
. rivalry between Austria and
Fatar"* ^ Prussia for the leading position
_^ * in Germany, and for the in-
heritance of the Holy Roman
Empire had been active ever since the
Congress of Vienna. The policy of Napo-
leon would have annihilated Prussia and
strengthened Austria, but Metternich com-
mitted the fatal blunder of joining the
coalition of which the profits were to come
to his rival instead of himself.
There was a time when Hanover might
have disputed with Prussia the first place
in a Teutonic Empire, but it was im-
possible that such a position could be held
by a King of England, and the sovereignty
of the British Isles was regarded as more
valuable than the chances of a Continental
crown. The share which Prussia had
taken in the Waterloo campaign rendered
her reward certain, and the world was
disposed to favour Protestant progress
rather than Catholic stagnation.
Still, it is doubtful if Prussia would
have gained the position which was the
object of her desires unless Bismarck
had been in her service, who, with a
mixture of statesmanship and craft, of
courage and audacity, half untied and half
cut the Gordian knot of the situation. The
Danish War of 1864 would probably never
have taken place unless Bismarck had
conveyed to the Danes the false assurance,
based probably upon an intercepted
dispatch, that she was certain to receive
the support of Britain. The defeat of
Denmark was speedy and inevitable, and
the arrangements made by the Peace of
Vienna ceded the duchies of Schleswig
. and Holstein to Austria and
th^^p °"^ ° Prussia under conditions which
J. y.. madeafuturequarrelinevitable.
The Schleswig-Holstein diffi-
culty rose in great measure from the fact
that whereas Holstein was almost entirely
German — and, indeed, claimed to be a part
of the old German Empire — Schleswig was
more than half Danish, and yet the two
duchies were united by a permanent bond
which national feeling declared was never
to be broken. " Schleswig-Holstein sea
4786
surrounded " was the text of their patriotic
hymn. The arrangements for the joint
occupation of the provinces by the two
conflicting rivals provided that the Ger-
man province should be occupied by
Austria ; the semi-Danish by Prussia.
This made a quarrel certain. The Prus-
sian governor of Schleswig persecuted the
partisans of independence ; the Austrian
governor of Holstein encouraged them.
The rupture was delayed for a time by the
Convention of Gastein, but it came at last.
In order to attack Austria with success
it was necessary that Prussia should have
Italy on her side. But Italy could not
act without the consent of France, and
this implied the approval of the Emperor
Napoleon. At the interview of Biarritz, in
October, 1865, Napoleon agreed to support
Prussia against Austria, and declared him-
self in favour of the unity of Italy, if some
compensation were given to his own coun-
try by an increase of territory. He desired
to tear up the settlement of Vienna, so
hostile to Napoleonic ideals. Bismarck
adroitly encouraged these aspirations, but
took care not to commit himself. It was
found difficult to overcome the
»^f ]^^ , , distrust which the Italians felt
Distrust of r T-,- 1 T^, , J ,
_. , for Bismarck. Ihey hoped to
Bismarck , , • ^^ i^- xu x
obtam Venetia without a war,
possibly by ceding the newly-created
Roumania to Austria. Even King William
was averse from force, and Bismarck stood
alone, supported by his clear insight and
his iron will. At last, in April, 1866, an
offensive alliance with Italy was concluded
for three months. Italy was to support
Prussia in obtaining the hegemony of
Germany, and was to receive Venetia in
return. She asked for Trieste, but it was
refused to her. Napoleon promised to
remain neutral.
In June, Prussia declared the federative
tie which bound her to Austria dissolved.
But she found herself alone. Bavaria,
Wurtemberg, Saxony, and Hanover, to-
gether with Hesse-Nassau, and Baden,
supported Austria. Prussia had to rely
upon her well- drilled army and her
admirable arrangements for mobilisation.
Napoleon hoped that between combatants
so equally matched the war would be of
some duration, and that, when both were
exhausted, he could come forw^ard as
a mediator, and make his own terms. But
these hopes were shattered by the rapidity
of the Prussian movements. Before the
end of June the arm.y of Hanover had
THE RE - MAKING OF EUROPE : GENERAL SURVEY
capitulated, Saxony was occupied, Bohemia
invaded, and on July 3rd the Battle of
Koniggratz, won largely by the genius of
the Crown Prince Frederic, ended the
struggle, and the way lay open to Vienna.
At the same time the Italians were
defeated at Custozza by a force inferior
in numbers, but this did not prevent the
Austrians having to surrender Venetia to
Napoleon, who gave it to the Italians.
The southern states of Germany were
incapable of effective action. They were
beaten in detail ; Frankfort was occupied,
Austria was compelled to abandon her
allies, who had no alternative but to make
peace; Prussia became the undisputed
head of the German confederation. Europe
was dazed and bewildered by the rapidity
and completeness of her success.
Napoleon found himself deceived, and
every step which he took to recover his
position led to new disasters. His attempt
to gain possession of the Grand Duchy of
Luxemburg proved a failure. He looked
about in vain for allies. A triple alliance
was proposed with Austria and Italy, but
Austria was exhausted and dreaded another
war, while Italy demanded
the withdi awal of the French
The Greatest
War of
Modern Times
from Rome. Nothing could
be obtained beyond general
declarations of sympathy and friendship. A
proposition made in the beginning of 1870
for a mutual disarmament came to nothing.
At last, at a moment when peace seemed to
be assured, war broke out with the sudden-
ness of an earthquake. The clumsiness of
a French Minister who, not satisfied with
a material victory, demanded a humiliating
declaration from the Prussian king, the
genius of Bismarck, who seized an un-
equalled opportunity for precipitating a
conflict which he regarded as inevitable,
so as to have the nation and the sovereign
on his side, caused the greatest war of
modern times, by the results of which
Europe is still dominated.
War was declared on July 19th, and the
emperor left for the front. But he had no
illusion as to the result. The empress who,
stung to the heart by the taunts of Ger-
many, had stimulated the conflict, was
unable to inspire him with hope. He left
St. Cloud, accompanied by his son, as a
victim led to the slaughter, and the final
catastrophe was not long delayed. The
war of 1870 was more than a local conflict.
It must be reckoned among the vital
struggles which have convulsed Europe
since the fall of the Roman Empire ; a
scene, but probably not a closing scene,
in the secular rivalry between the
Roman and the Teuton.
It was said at the time that Sedan
avenged Tagliacozzo, that the French
emperor expiated on that field the murder
of the Hohenstauffen Conradin by the
^ ^. - brother of St. Louis. Regarded
Creation of r ■ -j. <•
,. „ from a more prosaic pomt of
theU'rinan •, J^ ,, \-,- r
„ . view, it upset the politics of
™ "^^ Europe. It created a German
Empire, with Prussia at. its head, and
gave that country a preponderance in
Europe. It achieved the unity of Italy,
and destroyed the temporal power of the
Pope. It opened the question of the East
by putting an end to the neutrality of the
Black Sea. It established in France a
republican government which seems to be
durable, and it transferred that neutral
territory between Neustria and Austrasia- —
which appears to have come into existence
from the accident of Lewis the Pious
having three sons instead of two — ^from
the French to the German side of his
dominions. Whether this arrangement
will be permanent or not, none can say.
It produced by force a settlement of
Europe very different to those which were
established at Miinster, at Utrecht, or
at Vienna, and we still lie under the
conditions which it created.
Nearly forty years have elapsed since
the war of 1870, almost as long a period as
intervened between the Battle of Waterloo
and the Crimean war. Can Europe be now
declared to be in a state of equilibrium, or
is she menaced by convulsions similar to
those which we have sketched ?
Political prophecy is always dangerous ;
rarely can the most far-sighted statesman
foresee what is going to happen. The
danger long dreaded frequently never
comes, and the catastrophe arises in a
season of complete security. Still, if we
pass the map of Europe in review, we shall
_. _ , . find a great improvement
The Relations ^-^^^ ^^^^ Congress of Vienna,
of France , i: r ii <- ^ ,^
. „ ., . and we may believe that our
and Britain , , -^ x i j i „
hopes of peaceiul develop-
ment for Europsan nations rests upon a
firmer basis. France appears to be firmly
established in the form ot a republic, and is
supported by the friendship of the British
Empire. Even if she were to change her
government, it would not necessarily pro-
duce a European war. Spain is recovering
from her disasters and entering upon a new
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
career of prosperity, while Portugal will
probably follow her example. Both
monarchies are, however, menaced by the
presence of a strong republican party, which
is encouraged by the presence of a republic
in France. The two most momentous
events in the period under discussion have
been the creation of a united Germany
and a united Italy. Both of
Changes these seem likely to be perma-
"^ A V.^^^^ nent. The divergence between
* ^ the feelings and interests of
Northern and Southern Germany has, to a
large extent, disappeared, and the friend-
ship which animates them has become
stronger in the course of years. It was the
King of Bavaria who proposed, in the
great gallery of Versailles, that the King
of Prussia should be Emperor of Germany,
and in doing so he expressed the sentiments
not only of the present, but of the future.
No one who was acquainted with Italy
in the days before Magenta and Solferino
can fail to recognise the change which has
come over that country.* The debt in-
curred in extending the Italian railways,
in piercing the Alps and the Apennines,
has been completely justified, and the
prei'^ience of those who brought it about
has been proved by its success. There is a
constant movement of the population
between south and north, and the
National Army of Italy has proved not
only a potent instrument of education,
but a means of creating a feeling of
nationality for which the provincialism of
earlier days left no scope. It has even had
an effect upon the language and literature
of the country. Italian has now sup-
planted French as the language of the
higher classes, and books are now written
in Italian which in old days would have
been written in dialect.
The position of the Pope at Rome is
still a cause of discord, but there is hope
that by concessions on each side these
differences may disappear. As we move
further east, the outlook
What is
the Future
of Austria ?
becomes less favourable. Who
can foretell the future of Austria
or of Russia ? Austria, an
ill-assorted congeries of discordant nation-
alities — Magyar and Czech, Italian and
Slavonic — is held under a German head
by the force of old traditions and the fear
of a civil war, wliich might be caused by a
disruption. But it is probable that even
here the danger may be averted, and at the
death of the present emperor means may be
4788
found of reconciling differences, which
appear irreconcilable, by the exercise of
political common sense, and of a patriotism
which, if not based on sentiment and affec-
tion, may at least be founded upon interest.
Russia, the unwieldy giant, a huge
territory sparsely peopled by discordant
elements, governed from an artificially
created capital, which is removed every
day further away from the centre of gravity
of affairs, as the frontiers of the empire
spread further to the east, may, perhaps,
split up into its component elements,
Asiatic and European, or, by a wise
extension of constitutional government,
may continue to exist for a considerable
time. Many prophecies of its fall have
been shown to be false, and those who
know it best have the surest confidence
in its stability. Turkey must always remain
an apple of discord. The forces which
have, during a long course of years, dis-
membered its territory and gradually
liberated suffering provinces from its
yoke will continue to be active, and, when
the intelligence of Europe has leisure to
attend to it, will free Constantinople from
her servitude, and drive the
The Startling
Revolution of
the Year 1908
Ottoman Turk into Asia ;
unless, indeed, the startling
revolution of igo8 proves
the true precursor of a transformation in
his character and methods without his-
torical parallel. Portions of the world
to which culture owes so much, which
have had so glorious a past, which gave the
world so much of Greek literature, philo-
sophy and eloquence, which were the first
to feel the awakening influence of Chris-
tianity, cannot remain for ever in a
condition of inglorious slumber.
Greece, which has completely justified the
enthusiasm for liberty which called her into
existence, will receive not only Crete,
but other provinces which once belonged
to her, and the Bulgarians will enjoy the
reward of their patient industry and their
solid capacity for practical affairs. The
world has seen the principles of territorial
sovereignty, of the balance of power, of
so-called legitimacy, which so long
dominated the politics of Europe, receive
their consecration in the Congress of
Vienna. It has seen the principle of
nationality, unfortunately ignored in the
arrangements of that congress, create a
new Germany and a new Italy, and work
powerfully among the Slavs, still subject
to the domination of alien masters.
THE RE-MAKING OF EUROPE: GENERAL SURVEY
It is probable that the principle which is
destined to conciliate divergent interests,
to reconcile rivalries, and to establish
the government of Europe upon a firm
basis of stable equilibrium, is the principle
of federation, a mode of government which
is possible only in an advanced state of
civilisation, and is certain to be accepted
in proportion as civilisation advances.
Much of the unrest which now renders
government difficult is due to the fact
that legislation which benefits one part of
a country is harmful to another part.
Ireland cannot be governed satisfactorily
on English methods, and measures which
are beneficial to Lombardy are inapplicable
to Sicily. The particularism of Spain,
which makes Catalonia a centre of disorder,
can be remedied only by a policy which
allows the provinces of that country to a
large extent to govern themselves. The
woi'ld is shrinking. The trend of affairs
in the world of our time is towards the
creation of vast empires, the formation
of large political units.
But this spirit of what is sometimes
called imperialism can be safely carried out
only by strengthening the smaller political
units of which the larger units are com-
posed. Extensive outlooks, the manage-
ment of affairs on a vast scale, cannot be
indulged in unless care is taken not to
weaken the intensive feelings which are
equally essential to political well-being.
A statesman must rely not only on the
wider patriotism, which carries with it
untold benefits wherever it is found, but
on the domestic virtues of local and
municipal patriotism, the love of our
country, our province, and our town.
The tendency to foster local languages
and local ties, which is sometimes regarded
as injurious to the higher interests of
humanity, is in reality the outcome of. a
natural instinct of self-preservation. Long
ago the Romans taught us that the two
essential bases of all government are
Imperium and Libertas — ill-translated
Empire and Liberty — one the exercise ol
firm rule, the other the concession to the
freedom of individual action. The recon-
ciliation of these two forces is to be found
in federation, a form of government which
is constantly making progress among us.
By this every citizen owes a double
allegiance, one to his municipal sur-
roundings, which appeals to sentiments
which belong to his birth, his education
and his race ; and the other to his imperial
position, which enables him to enjoy a
larger life and to take his proper share in
the administration of the world. The
Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire,
have passed away ; a British Empire and
other similar combinations are coming
into being. The scientific pursuit of this
ideal, guided by the best political thought,
and carried into execution by the highest
political wisdom, is the only means by
which we may hope to realise the theme
of poets, the dream of statesmen, a goal
which is yet far distant, but which is
not impossible, the Federation of the
World. Oscar Browning
QUEEN
GREAT EXHIBITION IN liOi
4789
47QO
teUBOPE^WATffiK®
THE GREAT POWERS IN CONCORD
AND THE FAILURE OF THE HOLY ALLIANCE
AT the Congress of Vienna nations were
but rarely, and national rights and
desires never, a subject of discussion.
The Cabinets — that is to say, the princes
of Europe, their officials, and in particular
the diplomatists — arranged the mutual
relations of states almost exclusively with
reference to dynastic interests and differ-
ences in national power ; though in the case
of France it was necessary to consult
national susceptibihties, and in England the
economic demands of the upper classes
of society came into question. The term
" state " implied a ruling court, a govern-
ment, and nothing beyond, not only to
Prince Metternich, but also to the majority
of his coadjutors. These institutions were
the sole surviving representatives of that
feudal organism which for more than a
thousand years had undertaken the larger
proportion of the task of the state.
Principalities of this kind were not
founded upon the institutions of civic
life, which had developed under feudal
society ; the rule of the aristocracy
had fallen into decay, had grown anti-
quated or had been abolished, and as the
monarchy increased in power at the ex-
pense of t]ie classes, it had invariably
employed instruments of government more
scientifically constructed in
<aropean detail. Bureaucracies had
governments ^ j. i j •
. „ . ,. arisen. Governments had m-
in Evolution , j ^ j. j
tervened between princes and
peoples and had become , ends in them-
selves. The theory of "subordination,"
which in feudal society had denoted an
economic relation, now assumed a political
character ; it was regarded as a necessary
extension of the idea of sovereignty, which
had become the sole and ultimate basis of
public authority in the course of the
seventeenth century. The impulse of the
sovereigns to extend the range of their
authority, and a conception more or less
definite of the connection between this
authority and certain ideal objects, re-
sulted in the theory that the guidance of
society was a governmental
.J * J?.*^^! task, and consequently laid
Idea of The • ^ \. x
n- V* r « ,, an ever-mcreasmg number of
Rights of Man , • i j j
claims and demands upon
the government for the time being.
To this conception of the rights of
princes and their delegates, as a result of
historic growth, the French Revolution
had opposed the idea of " the rights of
man." To the National Assembly no
task seemed more necessary or more
imperative than the extirpation of errone-
ous theories from the general thought of
the time ; such theories had arisen from
the exaggerated importance attached to
monarchical power, had secured recogni-
tion, and had come into operation, simply
because they had never been confuted.
Henceforward sovereignty was to be
based upon the consent of the community
as a whole. Thus supported by the
sovereign will of the people, France had
entered upon war with the monarchical
states of Europe where the exercise of
supreme power had been the ruler's
exclusive right. It was as an exponent
of the sovereign rights of the people that
the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte had
attempted to make France the paramount
Power in Europe ; it was in virtue of the
power entrusted to him by six millions
of Frenchmen that the Emperor had led
his armies far beyond the limits of French
domination and had imposed his personal
4791
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
will upon the princes of Europe by means
of a magnificent series of battles. Within
a period of scarce two decades the balance
of power had swung to the opposite
extreme, and had passed back from the
sovereign people to the absolute despot.
Monarchs and nations shared alike in the
task of overpowering this tyranny which
. had aimed at abolishing en-
c rowing ^-j-gjy ^j^g rights of nations as
.1. n 1 such ; but from victory the
the People . , ^ • ^ ^
prmces alone derived advan-
tage. With brazen effrontery literary time-
servers scribbled their histories to prove
that only the sovereigns and their armies
deserved the credit of the overthrow of
Napoleon, and that the private citizen
had done no more service than does the
ordinary fireman at a conflagration.
However, their view of the situation was
generally discredited. It could by no
means be forgotten that the Prussians had
forced their king to undertake a war of
liberation, and the services rendered by
Spain and the Tyrol could not be wholly
explained by reference to the commands of
legally constituted authorities ; in either
case it was the people who by force of
arms had cast off the yoke imposed upon
them. The will of the people had made
itself plainly understood ; it had dechned
the alien rule even though that rule had
appeared under the names of freedom,
reform, and prosperity.
Once again the princely families re-
covered their power and position ; they
had not entertained the least idea of
dividing among themselves the spoils
accumulated by the Revolution which had
been taken from their kin, their relations,
and their allies ; at the same time they
were by no means inclined to divide the
task of administering the newly created
states with the peoples inhabiting them.
They tacitly unitecl in support of the
conviction, which became an article of
faith with all legitimists, that their position
, and prosperity were no less im-
e u jec s pQj-^g^j^^ than the maintenance
th*^s? ofsocialorderandmorality.lt
was explained as the duty of
the subject to recognise both the former
and the latter ; and by increasing his
personal prosperity, the subject was to
provide a sure basis on which to increase
the powers of the government. However,
" the limited intelligence of the subjects "
strove against this interpretation of the
facts ; they could not forget the enormous
4792
sacrifices which had been made to help
those states threatened by the continuance
of the Napoleonic supremacy, and in many
cases already doomed to destruction.
The value of their services aroused them
to question also the value of what they
had attained, and by this process of
thought they arrived at critical theories
and practical demands which " legitimist "
teaching was unable to confute.
The supreme right of princes to wage
war and conclude peace rested upon
satisfactory historic foundation, and was
therefore indisputable. In the age of
feudal society it was the lords, the free
landowners, who had waged war, and not
the governments ; and their authority had
been limited only by their means. Neither
the lives nor the property of the com-
monalty had ever come in question except
in cases where their sympathies had been
enlisted by devastation, fire, and slaughter ;
to actual co-operation in the undertakings
of the overlord the man of the people had
never been bound, and such help had been
voluntarily given. After the conception
of sovereignty had been modified by the
ideaof "government" the situa-
Evii Results ^ .^^ ^^^ ^gg^ changed. Military
of the J J i.-
_ . . powers and duties were now
dissociated from the feuda:l
classes ; the sinews of war were no longer
demanded from the warriors themselves,
and the provision of means became a
government duty. However, no new rights
had arisen to correspond with these
numerous additional duties. The vassal,
now far more heavily burdened, demanded
his rights : the people followed his
example. That which was to be supported
by the general efforts of the whole of the
members of any body politic must surely
be a matter of general concern. The state
also has duties incumbent upon it, the
definition of which is the task of those
who support the state. Such demands
were fully and absolutely justified ; a
certain transformation of the state and of
society was necessary and inevitable.
Few princes, and still fewer officials,
recognised the overwhelming force of these
considerations ; in the majority of cases
expression of the popular will was another
name for revolution. The Revolution had
caused the overthrow of social order. It
had engendered the very worst of human
passions, destroyed professions and pro-
perty, sacrificed a countless number of
human lives, and disseminated infidelity
THE GREAT POWERS IN CONCORD
The Tsar's
Lost Faith in
Liberalism
and immorality ; revolution therefore
must be checked, must be nipped in the
bud in the name of God, of civihsation
and social order. This opinion was founded
upon the fundamental mistake of refusing
to recognise the fact that all rights implied
corresponding duties ; while disregarding
every historical tradition and assenting to
the dissolution of every feudal idea, it did
nothing to introduce new relations or to
secure a compromise between the prince
and his subjects.
This point of view was known as Con-
servatism ; its supporters availed them-
selves of the unnatural limitations laid
upon the subject un-
duly to aggrandise
and systematically to
increase the privileges
of the ruling class;
and .this process re-
ceived the name of
statecraft. This
conservative state-
craft, of which Prince
Metternich was proud
to call himself a
master, proceeded
from a dull and spirit-
less conception of
the progress of the
world ; founded upon
a complete lack of
historical knowledge,
it equally failed to
lecognise any distinct
purpose as obligatory
on the state. Of politi-
cal science Metternich ,, ,, r nTlf''^ ""^•"^'i^.^T.^ -u
I , , After the fall of Napoleon, in isin, Metternich stepped
IldQ none, ne maue into the place vacated by the emperor as the first person-
gOOd the deficiency ality in Europe, and, as the avowed champion of Con-
bv the general ad- servatlsm, opposed forces that were destined to ultimate
„• 1 • 1-1 1 • triumph. He was overthrown in 1S4S, and died in 1S59.
muation which his
intellect and character inspired. His diaries
and many of his letters are devoted to
the glorification of these merits. A know-
ledge of his intellectual position and of
that of the majority of his diplomatic
colleagues is an indispensable
preliminary to the under-
standing of the aberrations
into which the statesmen of
the so-called Restoration period fell.
The restored Government of the
Bourbons in France was indeed provided
with a constitution. It was thus that
Tsar Alexander I. had attempted to
display his liberal tendencies and his
good-will to the French nation ; but he
u 23 G
The Restored
Government of
the Bourbons
had been forced to leave the Germans and
Italians to their fate, and had satisfied,
liis conscience by the insertion of a few
expressions in the final protocol of the
Vienna Congress. Subsequently he
suffered a cruel chsappointment in the case
of Poland, which proceeded to
misuse the freedom that had
been granted to it by the con-
coction of conspiracies and by
continual manifestations of dissatisfaction.
He began to lose faith in Liberalism as
such, and became a convert to Metternich's
policy of forcibly suppressing every popu-
lar movement for freedom. Untouched
by the enthusiasm of
the German youth,
which for the most
part had displayed
after the war of
liberation the noblest
sense of patriotism,
and could provide
for the work of re-
storation and reor-
ganisation coadjutors
highly desirable to a
far-seeing adminis-
tration; incapable of
understanding the
Italian yearnings for
union and activity,
and for the founda-
tion of a federal state
free from foreign in-
fluences, the great
Powers of Austria,
Russia, and Prussia
employed threats and
force in every form,
with the object of
imposing constitu-
tions of their own
choice upon the people, whose desires for
reform they wholly disregarded. Austria
had for the moment obtained a magnificent
position in the German Confederacy. This,
however, the so-called statecraft of Con-
servatism declined to use for the con-
solidation of the federation, which Austria
at the same time desired to exploit for her
own advantage. Conservatism never, in-
deed, gave the smallest attention to the
task of uniting the interests of the allied
states by institutions making for pros-
perity, or by the union of their, several
artistic and scientific powers ; it seemed
more necessary and more salutary to limit
as far as possible the influence of the
4793
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
popular representatives in the adminis-
tration of the alHed states, and to prevent
the introduction of constitutions which
gave the people rights of real and tangible
value. The conservative statesmen did
not observe that even governments could
derive but very scanty advantage by
ensuring the persistence of conditions
which were the product of no
Austria s national or economic course
of development ; they did
Surrender
to Russia
not see that the power of the
governments was decreasing, and that
they possessed neither the money nor the
troops upon which such a system must
ultimately depend. In the East, under
the unfortunate guidance of Metternich.
Austria adopted a position in no way
corresponding to her past or to her religious
aspirations ; in order not to alienate the
help of Russia, which might be useful in
the suppression of revolutions, Austria
surrendered that right, which she had
acquired by the military sacrifices of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, of
appearing as the liberator of the Balkan
Christians from Turkish oppression.
Political history provides many ex-
amples of constitutions purely despotic, of
the entirely selfish aspirations of persons,
families, or parties, of the exploitation of
majorities by minorities, of constitutions
which profess to give freedom to all, while
securing the dominance of individuals ;
but illusions of this kind are invariably
connected with some definite object, and
in every case we can observe aspirations
for tangible progress or increase of power.
But the Conservatism of the Restoration
period rests upon a false conception of
the working of political forces, and is
therefore from its very outset a policy of
mere bungling, as little able to create as
to maintam. Of construction, of purifi-
cation, or of improvement, it was utterly
incapable ; for in fact the object of the
conservative statesmen and
Defects of
Restoration
Period
their highest ambition wer.'
nothing more than to capture
the admiration of that court
society in which they figured in their uni-
form? and decorations. For many princely
families it was a grave misfortune that they
failed to recognise the untenable character
of those "principles" by which their
^linisters, their masters of ceremonies, and
their ofticers professed themselves able to
uphold their rights and their possessions ;
many, indeed, have disappeared for ever
4794
from the scene of history, while others
have passed through times of bitter trial
and deadly struggle.
From their armed alliance against
Napoleon a certain feeling of federative
union seized the European Cabinets. The
astounding events, the fall of the Caesar
from his dizzy height, had, after all the free
thinking of the Revolutionary period and
the superficial enlightenment, once more
strengthened the belief in the dispositions
of a Higher Power. The effect on the
tsar, Alexander I., was the most peculiar.
His temperament, naturally idealistic,
moved him to an extreme religiosity,
intensified and marked by strong mystical
leanings, to many minds suggestive of
the presence of something like mania. He
was not without friends who encouraged
him to regard himself as a special " in-
strument " with a religious mission, who
was to raise Europe to a new level of
Christianity through his power as a ruler ;
in contradistinction to Napoleon, whom
he probably, in common with a good
many other mystics, had come to regard
as Antichrist. Alexander did not pose
as the champion of a Church,
The Tsar ^^^ j,^^ wanted to assume the
HoTTma"ce '°'^ "^ ^^'^ '^^^^ Christian
brother monarchs along the same path. Un-
fortunately, the conception of the divine
mission developed the idea of divine mon-
archical authority ; so that from his early
notions of Liberty he passed to the stage of
identifying the cause of Absolutism and of
Legitimism with the cause of Christianity.
Thus, he was moved to materialise his
ideals in the form of a Christian union
of nations, a Holy Alliance. This scheme
he laid before his brother rulers.
Frederic William HI., also a pietist in
his way, immediately agreed ; so did
Francis L, after some deliberation. On
September 26tli the three monarchs
concluded this alliance in Paris. They
wished to take as the standard of their
conduct, both in the internal affairs of
their countries and in external matters,
merely the precepts of Christianity, justice,
love, and psaceableness ; regarding each
other as brothers, they wished to help
each other on every occasion. As pleni-
potentiaries of Divine Providence they
promised to be the fathers of their subjects
and to lead them m the spirit of brother-
hood, in order to protect religion, peace,
and justice ; and they recommended their
THE GREAT POWERS IN CONCORD
ovn peoples to exercise themselves daily
in Christian principles and the fulfilment
ol Christian duties. Every Power which
w( uld acknowledge such principles might
join the alliance. Almost all the states
of Europe gradually joined the Holy
Alliance. The sultan was obviously ex-
cluded, while the Pope declared that he
had always possessed the Christian verity
and required no new exposition of it.
Great Britain refused, from regard to her
constitution and to parliament ; Europe
was spared the presentation of the Prince
Regent as a devotee of the higher morality.
There was no international basis to the
Holy Alliar^^e, which only had the value
of a personal declaration, with merely a
moral obligation for the monarchs con-
nected with it. In its beginnings the Alliance
aimed at an ideal ; and its founders were
sincere in their purpose. But it soon
became, and rightly, the object of universal
detestation ; for Metternich was master
of Alexander, and from the promise of the
potentates to help each other on every
opportunity he deduced the right to
iiiterfere in the internal affairs of foreign
states. The Congresses of
eaguc Carlsbad, Troppau, Laibach
uropean ^^^ Verona were the offshoots
of this unholy conception.
In addition to the Holy Alliance, the
Treaty of Chaumont was renewed.
On November 20th, 1815, at Paris,
Russia, Great Britain, Austria, and Prussia
pledged themselves that their sovereigns
would meet periodically to deliberate on
the peace, security, and welfare of Europe,
or would send their responsible Ministers
for the purpose. France, which had so
long disturbed the peace of Europe, was
to be placed under international police
supervision, even after the army of occu-
pation had left its soil.
The first of these congresses met at
Aix-la-Chapelle, and showed Europe that
an aristocratic league of Powers stood at
its head. Alexander, Francis, and Fred-
eric William appeared in person, accom-
panied by numerous diplomatists, among
them Metternich, Gentz, Hardenberg,
Humboldt, Nesselrode, Pozzo di Borgo,
and Capodistrias ; France was represented
by Richelieu ; Great Britain by Welling-
ton, Castlereagh, and Canning. The
chief question to be decided by the con-
ferences, which began on September 30th,
1818, was the evacuation of France. The
Duke of Richelieu obtained on October
gth an agreement according to which
France should be evacuated by the allied
troops before November 30th, 1818, in-
stead of the year 1820, and the costs of the
war and the indemnities still to be paid
were considerably lowered. On the other
hand, he did not succeed in forming a
quintuple aUiance by securing the ad-
. mission of France as a member
the Hoi ^ ^^^'^ ^^^^ quadruple alliance. It
^Ij. ^ is true that France was received
on November 15th into the
federation of the Great Powers, and that it
joined the Holy Alliance ; but the recip-
rocal guarantee of the five Great Powers,
advocated by Alexander and Ancillon,
did not come to pass ; the four Powers
renewed in secret on November 15th the
Alliance of Chaumont, and agreed upon
military measures to be adopted in the
event of a war with France. We have
already spoken of the settlement of the
dispute between Bavaria and Baden ;
the congress occupied itself also with other
European questions without achieving
any successes, and increased the severity of
the treatment of the exile on St. Helena.
Alexander I. of Russia, who was now
making overtures to Liberalism throughout
Europe and supported the constitutional
principle in Poland, soon returned from
that path ; he'grew colder in his friendship
for the unsatisfied Poles, and became a
loyal pupil of Metternich, led by the
rough " sergeant of Gatshina," Count
Araktcheieff. Although art, literature, and
science flourished in his reign, although
the fame of Alexander Pushkin was at
its zenith, the fear of revolution, assas-
sination, and disbelief cast a lengthening
shadov/ over the policy of Alexander, and
he governed in a mystic reactionary spirit.
\\nien it became apparent that Alexan-
der had broken with the Liberal party,
Metternich and Castlereagh rubbed their
hands in joy at his conversion, and the
pamphlet of the prophet of disaster,
Alexander Stourdza, " On the
Present Condition of Germany, ' '
The Tsar's
Break with
the Liberals
which was directed against the
freedom of study in the univer-
sities and the freedom of the Press, when
put before the tsar at Aix-la-Chapelle,
intensified his suspicious aversion to all
that savoured of liberty. The conference
of ambassadors at Paris was declared
closed. The greatest concord seemed to
reign between the five Great Powers when
the congress ended on November 21st.
4795
PORTRAITS OF QUEEN VICTORIA IN THE EARLIER. YEARS OF HER LIFE AND REIGN
«ti
4796
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE
AFTER
WATERLOO
II
THE BRITISH ERA OF REFORM
THE LAST OF THE GEORGES, WILLIAM IV.,
AND BEGINNING OF THE VICTORIAN AGE
IN the nature of things, the British
* nation at all times stands to a certain
extent outside the general course of Con-
tinental pohtics. The political organism
developed far in advance of other nations ;
the English polity, assimilating Scotland
and Ireland, had achieved long before the
French Revolution a liberty elsewhere un-
known. Political power had become the
property not indeed of people at large,
but, in effect, of the whole landowning
class, a body altogether different from the
rigid aristocratic castes of Europe ; and
absolutism or the prospect of absolutism
had long vanished. In the latter half of
the eighteenth century there had been
indications of a democratic movement, to
which the beginnings of the French Revo-
lution gave a considerable impulse. But
its later excesses gave a violent check to
that impulse throughout the classes which
held political power, causing a strong anti-
democratic reaction ; although a precisely
contrary effect was produced in the classes
from whom political power was withheld.
That is to say. Europe in general and the
United Kingdom, like Europe, showed the
common phenomenon of a proletariat
roused by the French Revolution to a
desire for political power, and rulers who
were convinced that the granting of such
power would entail anarchy and ruin ;
while material force was on the side of the
rulers. But the distinction between the
composition of the ruling class in the
United Kingdom and in the Continental
states remained as it was before
the Revolution : though the ex-
isting Ministry in Great Britain
was reactionary to an ex-
ceptional degree, the sympathies of the
ruling class were with constitutionalism,
not with absolutism. Moreover, Great
Britain was free from any idea that she
had a divine mission to impose her own
pohtical theories on her neighbours, and
had a conviction, on the whole wholesome,
Britain's
Reactionary
Ministry
that her intervention in foreign affairs
should be restricted as far as possible to
the exercise of a restraining influence in
the interests of peace.
Thus we find Great Britain in the nine-
teenth century for the most part pursuing
her own way ; taking her own course of
Great Britain P^'^^^^^^ development, influ-
_ ,. . enced only m a very second-
a rattern to -, -^ , ^ .
Other Lands f^y '^^^'^.^ ^j affairs on
the Contment, on which
she in turn exercises usually only a very
minor influence, save as providing a
pattern for reformers in other lands.
Her part in world-historj^, as distinct from
domestic history, is played outside of
Europe altogether, in the development of
the extra-European Empire, as already
related in the histories of India, Africa,
and Australasia, and to be related in the
American volume. In European history,
interest centres not in these islands,
but in the readjustments which have
issued in the reorganisation of Germany
as a great and homogeneous Central
European power, in the German Empire
which we know to-day ; in the re-
organisation of France as the Republic
which we know to-day ; and in the
hberation and unification of Italy, and
of minor nationalities.
Great Britain had played her full part —
a conspicuously unselfish one — in the
Congress of Vienna and the settlements
of Europe after the final overthrow of
Napoleon. In the period immediately
ensuing she made her influence felt, not
by her intervention, but by her refusal of
pressing invitations to intervene, and pre-
sently by her refusals to countenance the
unwarranted intervention of other Powers.
Thus the British representatives dechned
to join the Holy AUiance of the gi-eat
Powers which was formed at Vienna in
1815 for the repression of liberal prin-
ciples, and the foreign policy of the Tories
was marked by a strong sympathy for the
4797
,^v;^WA»A^AWA'A^A^A'A'^AVAvX^A«AVA^AVAVA>AlAU>A»AV>JX*ArAV AVAU»A!AVA^A?7T7
DISTINGUISHED STATESMEN OF THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY
The four statesmen whose portraits are given above— Peel, Canning, Huskisson and Palmerston — exercised a powerful
influence upon the Cabinet which they joined in 1822, moderating: the foreign policy of the Tories and informing it with a
strong sympathy for the principles of liberty. Three of them— Peel, Palmerston, and Canning— became Prime Ministers.
principles of liberty and nationality. But
this was due to the influence of the
l\Ioderates— Peel, Canning, Huskisson, and
Palmerston — who joined the Cabinet in
1822. The extreme Tories sympathised
with the aims of the Holy Alliance, and
had resolved under no circumstances to
impede its efforts. The refusal of Great
Britain to assist in bolstering up the
Spanish dynasty ; her consent to
recognise the independence of the
4798
Spanish colonies and Brazil ; her defence
of Portugal against the forces of Dom
Miguel, the absolutist pretender, and Fer-
dinand Vn. of Spain ; her intervention
to save Greece from the Sultan and
Mehemet Ali — all these generous actions
were the work of Canning, and would
never have been sanctioned by Castle-
reagh, his predecessor at the Foreign
Office. In domestic policy the spirit of
reaction reigned supreme. During the
THE BRITISH ERA OF REFORM
3^ears 1815 to 1822 class interests and the
morbid fear of revolution were responsible
for a series of repressive enactments which
were so unreasonably severe that they
increased the popular sympathy for the
principles against which they were directed.
After 1822 came the period in which the
extreme Tories-gave way tardily and with
the worst of graces.
The peace was inaugurated with a new
corn law, framed in the interests of the
landowning classes, from which both
Houses of Parliament were
chiefly recruited. This pro-
hibited the importation of
foreign corn until the price of
80s. a quarter should be reached ; that is,
until the poorer classes should be reduced
to a state of famine. The statutory price
before this date had been mereh' 48s. The
change was naturally followed in many
places by bread riots and incendiarism.
The Government replied by calling out the
soldiery and framing coercive measures.
In 1 81 9 a mass meeting which ' had
assembled in St. Peter's Field, at Man-
chester, was broken up with considerable
bloodshed ; Parliament, which had already
Bread Riots
at
Manchester
suspended the Habeas Corpus, pro-
ceeded to pass the Six Acts giving the
executive exceptional powers to break up
seditious meetings and to punish the
authors of seditious libels. The })owers
thus obtained were stretched to their
utmost limits, on the pretext that such
hare-brained schemes as the Cato Street
Conspiracy, 1820, constituted a serious
menace to public order.
It was not until 1823 that the Cabinet
consented to attack the root of social
disorders by making some reductions in
the tariff. It began by concessions to the
mercantile classes, whose prospects were
seriously affected by the heavy duties upon
raw materials, and to the consumers of
various manufactured commodities, such
as linen, silk, and cotton stuffs, upon
which prohibitive duties had been im-
posed in the interests of British industrj'.
But in the all-important question of the
corn laws, affecting the poor rather than
the middle classes, the Tories would only
concede a compromise, the sliding-scale
duty of 1829. The demand of the chief
commercial centres for the repeal of the
Navigation Laws was met b}' an Act
BREAD RIOTS AT MANCHESTER: THE YEOMANRY CHARGING THE MOB IN 1619
Suffering: hardship in consequence of the high price of bread, the people in many places resorted to violence. The
Government's reply was to call out the soldiery and frame coercive measures. A mass meeting- which had assembled in
St. Peter's Field, at Manchester, in 1819, was broken up, as shown in the above picture, with considerable bloodshed.
4799
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
providing that the ships of any foreign
Power should be allowed free access to
British ports if that Power would grant a
reciprocity ; the Combination Acts, framed
to make trades
unions illegal,
were repealed;
consi derable
amendments
were introduced
into the criminal
law. But to
several reforms of
paramount neces-
sity the Ministers
showed them-
selves obstinately
averse. They
would not repeal
the disabhng laws
which still re-
mained in force
against the
Catholics, al-
though three-
fourths of the Irish
for
THE SCENE OF THE CATC STREET CONSPIRACY
In Cato Street, London, shown in this picture, was conceived a plot
to assassinate Castlereagh and other Ministers at a Cabinet dinner
in 1820. The plot being discovered, the revolutionaries were
captured, five of them being hanged and five transported for life.
nation were calling
this act of justice. They would do
nothing to reform the House of Commons.
They would not deprive the landowning
classes of the profits which
the corn duties afforded.
It was now that the
nation discovered the use
which could be made of
two rights which it had
long possessed. Freedom
of speech on political
matters was guaranteed by
Fox's Libel Act of 1792,
which left to the jury the
full power of deciding
what constituted legi-
timate criticism of the
administration. Freedom
of association and public
meeting existed, indepen-
dently of special enact-
ments, under the protec-
tion of the common law.
These weapons were used
with extraordinary skill
by O'Connell, the leader
of the Irish Catholics. The
Catholic Association,
formed in 1823, learned from him the art
of intimidating without illegality by means
of monster meetings. Proclaimed as an
illegal body in 1825, the association con-
trived to continue its existence in the
4800
DANIEL OCONNELL
The leader of the Irish Catholics, O'Connell
was foremost in the agitation for the rights
of his countrymen, and patriotically sur-
rendered personal interests for the advance-
ment of the national cause. He died in 1847.
guise of a philanthropic society. At the
Clare election in 1828 O'Connell, although
a Catholic, and therefore disquahfied, was
returned by an overwhelming majority.
Peel persuaded
his colleagues
that the time had
come when eman-
cipation must be
granted. Bills
for that purpose
were accordingly
passed and sub-
mitted for the
royal assent.
This afforded
George IV., who
had succeeded
his father in 1820,
an opportunity
of asserting him-
self for once
in a matter of
national concern.
A prodigal and
a voluptuary, who had systematically
sacrificed honour and decency to his
pleasures and had broken his father's
heart by his want of shame and filial piety,
he now declared that
nothing could induce him
to accept a measure which
that father had rejected.
After long expostulations
he broke this vow, as he
had broken every other,
and Catholic emancipa-
tion was finally recorded
on the Statute Book.
George IV. died in
1830. He was succeeded
by his brother, the Duke
of Clarence, under the
title of William IV., a
more respectable char-
acter than " the first
gentleman in Europe."
but a pohtician of poor
abilities, great tactless-
ness and greater obstinacy.
In their resistance to the
next popular agitation
the Tories found him a
valuable ally. The
triumph of the Irish Catholics was
followed by a revival, in England, of
the cry for parliamentary reform, and
to this purpose the tactics of O'Connell
were steadily applied by the Liberals
THE BRITISH ERA OF REFORM
of the great manu-
facturing centres.
The energy with
which the Whigs
|)ushed their attack
is explained by their
conviction that the
defects of the repre-
sentative system con-
stituted the main
obstacles to social,
political, and fiscal
reforms of the utmost
weight and urgency.
The House of Com-
mons no longer ex-
pressed the opinions
of the country. The
most enlightened,
industrious, and
prosperous portion of
the community were
either unrepresented
or ludicrously under-
represented. Since the
time of Charles II. no
new constituencies
had been created, and
of the borou£fhs which
KING GEORGE IV.
He became Prince Regent in 1810 owing- to the mental
derangement of his father, George III., and succeeded
to the throne ten years later. Without any qualities
that endeared him to his people, he possessed failings
and vices that were conspicuously displayed, and there
were few to regret his death, which occurred in 18:30.
had received repre-
sentation under the
Tudors and the
Stuarts, the greater
part owed their privi-
lege to the Crown's
expectation that their
elections could always
be controlled. Many
1^0 roughs which
formerly deserved to
lie represented had
I alien, through the
decay of their for-
tunes or through an
excessive limitation
of the franchise,
under the control of
the great territorial
families. Close
boroughs were so com-
pletely an article of
commerce that the
younger Pitt, when he
proposed a measure
of parliamentary re-
form, felt himself
bound to offer tlie
patrons a pecuniary
A SITTING OF THE BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS IN THE YEARS 1821-23
From the engraving by J. Scott. I'hoto by W'.ilker
480:
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
H *■
aX
j^-JTW _^ 5
J'«yr»MWKai6 ftfll»u ww > i W ^E4,~
"A-:
."A^er*^ g
■'t:^i
■ compensalion. It was by means of
" pocket " boroughs that the Whigs had
held the first two Hanoverians in bondage,
and that George III. had maintained his
personal ascendancy for twenty years. In
1793 it was computed that 307 members
of Parliament were returned by private
l^trons. Matters had improved in the
last forty years ; but still on the eve of the
reform legislation 276 seats \\'ere private
property'. Three-fourths of these be-
longed to members of the Tory aristocracy.
The state of the county representation
was somewhat better. But the smallest
shires returned as many members as the
largest, with the solitary exception that
Yorkshire, since 1821, returned four
members in place of the usual two. The
county franchise was limited, by a law of
1430, to freeholders, and the owners of
large estates had established their right
to plural or " faggot " votes.
The faults of this system, its logical
absurdities, are glaringly manifest. With
the votes of about half the House of
Commons controlled by a few families,
with great cities imrepresented, with
small and large counties treated as of
equal weight, with franchises varying in
different localities, it might rather be said
that there was no system at all. But it is
a peculiarly British characteristic to regard
anomalies as desirable in themselves, as
it was characteristic of the theorists of
the Revolution to discover the universal
panacea in symmetrical uniformity.
Entirely apart from personal interests,
the large proportion of the ruling class
had a firm conviction that the consti-
tution was incapable of improvement,
that it provided the best possible type of
legislator and administrator. The unen-
franchised masses saw in these Olj^mpians
a group who neither understood nor cared
for anything but the interests of their own
class ; they acquired a rooted conviction
that, when they themselves obtained
political power, the millennium would
arrive. But among the enfranchised, the
minority, who had always refused to be
terrified by the Reign of Terror, now grew
into a majorit}' who believed that political
intelligence existed in other sections of
the community, who might be enfranchised
without danger, and that flagrant anoma-
lies might be removed without under-
mining the constitution. Wlien France
once more overturned the Bourbon
monarchy and established the citizen-king.
4802
GEORGE IV,, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, IN HIS ROYAL ROBES
From the painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.K.A.
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4805
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Changes in the
Constitution
of Parliament
districts of equal size. They enlarged the.
representation of some counties. Thev
suppressed or partially disfranchised
eighty-six decayed boroughs. They gave
representatives to forty-two of the new
boroughs. But they kept intact the old
distinction between county and borough,
and sedulously avoided the subdivision or
amalgamation of constituencies which
possessed organic unity and historical
traditions. In this and other respects the
later Reform Bills have been more drastic.
That of X867 abandoned the
principle, which had been
steadily maintained in 1832,
that the franchise should be
limited to those who paid direct taxes in
one form or another. That of 1885 endeav-
oured to equalise constituencies in respect
of population ; in order to attain this end,
counties and boroughs were broken up
into divisions, without respect for past
traditions. Such legislation is necessarily
of a temporary character, since no measure
of redistfibution can be expected to satisfy
the principle of equality for more than a
few years. And this is not the least
important consequence of the legislative
change which the nineteenth century
effected in the
constitution of
Parliament. The
Lower House in
becoming demo-
cratic has ceased
to represent a
fixed number of
communities
with fixed in-
terests and
characteristics.
The reformed
Parliament was
not long in
justifying the
hopes which had
been formed of
it. Those, indeed,
. _ ^ _ who had ex-
THE FIRST STEAMBOAT ON THE CLYDE pected that the
givinP' nnlitirnl "^h® early part of the nineteenth century witnessed progress along rn PTriKprc rp
1VIH5 puiiLiccti many lines^the_ introduction of steamboats being a noteworthy ill e ui u c i s i c-
Touis Philippe, on the throne with a con-
stitution in which the political power of
the bourgeoisie was the prominent feature,
effecting the change without any excesses,
the phantom of the ancient Reign of
Terror dwindled, and the Reform party
was materially strengthened.
The king and the Duke of Wellington
refused at first to believe that any change
was either desirable or necessary. But
they were compelled in 1830 to admit that
it was necessary ; and Lord Grey was per-
mitted to construct a reform Cabinet of
Whigs and moderate Tories. Their Bills
passed the House of Commons without
difficulty, receiving the votes of many
members whose seats were known to be
doomed by its provisions. The House of
Lords, encouraged by the king, endeav-
oured to obstruct the measure which they
dared not openly oppose. But a new
agitation, threatening the very existence
of the Upper House, at once arose. The
duke, with greater wisdom than his royal
master, reahsed that further resistance
was out of the question, and induced the
Lords to give way in June, 1832.
The Reform Bill of 1832 fell far short of
the democratic ideal which the English
admirers of the :
French Revolu-
tion had kept in
view. Jeremy
Bentham, 1748-
1832, the greatest
of those writers
and thinkers who
prepared the
minds of men for
practical reform,
was of opinion
that the doctrine
of natural equal-
ity ought to be
the first principle
of every constitu-
tion; but the
followers of Lord
Grey contented
themselves with
advance. The Comet, shown in the above illustration, was built
by Henry Bell, and began sailing on the Clyde in the year 1812.
power to the
middle classes.
This work has since been supplemented by
the legislation of 1867, 1884, and 1885 ; yet
even at the present day the doctrine of man-
hood suffrage is unknown in English law.
Still less were the first reformers inclined
to map out the country in new electoral
4806
turned under the
new system
would all be Whigs or democrats soon
found reason to revise their judgment.
This is not the only occasion in English
history on which it has been proved
that aversion to ill-considered change is
a fundamental trait in the national
THE CORONATION PROCESSION OF WILLIAM IV. AND QUEEN ADELAIDE AT THE ABBEY
The third son of George III., William IV., the " Sailor King," succeeded to the throne of Great Britain and
Ireland on the death of his eldest brother, George IV., in 1830, and along with his consort, Adelaide, the eldest
daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, whom he married in 1818, he was crowned on September 8th, IS." I.
From the drawing by Gcorjjc Callcniiole
character. The Tories, although for a
moment under a cloud, soon recovered
their spirits and a certain measure of influ-
ence in the country. Under the leadership
of Peel, they adopted the new name of Con-
servatives, and shook off the instinct of
dogged and unreasoning obstruction. Peel
was unable to procure a majority in the
House of Commons when first invited by the
king to form a Ministry, and accordingly left
Melbourne and the Whigs in 1835 to carry
on the government. But political opinion
was swinging round to his side ;
e usy he obtained a majority in 1841.
I *^.^ ° . So far the unforeseen had
cgis a ion hg^ppgj^g(j_ Qj-^ ^hg other hand,
the work of remedial legislation proceeded
with vigour whether the Whigs were in
or out of office. In fact both parties had
become possessed by the idea that their
main business was to devise and carry
sweeping measures. Legislation was re-
garded as the worthiest function of a
sovereign assembly ; it seemed as though
there could never be too much of legisla-
tion. Experience has brought a decline
of faith in the panacea. But it must be
admitted that for twenty years the new
Parliament had necessary work to perform
in the way of legislation, and performed it
with admirable skill. A few of the more
important measures may be mentioned.
The Emancipation Act of 1833 com-
pleted a work 'of philanthropy which had
been commenced in 1807. The Ministry of
All the Talents had abolished the slave
trade. The new Act emancipated all the
slaves who were still to be found in British
colonies, and awarded the owners the sum
of twenty millions as a compensation.
Costly as the measure was for the mother
country, it was still more costly for the
colonies. The sugar industry of the West
Indies had been built up with the help ot
slave labour. The planters lost heavily
through being compelled to emancipate
the slave for a sum which was much less
than his market value, and the black
population showed a strong disinclination
to become labourers for hire. This was
particularly the case in the larger islands,
where land was abundant and a squatter
could obtain a sustenance with little or no
labour. The prosperity of Jamaica was
destroyed, and the West Indies as a whole
have never been prosperous since 1834.
4807
^nS
THE BRITISH ERA OF REFORM
Free trade completed their ruin, since they
had only maintained the sugar trade with
the help of the preferential treatment
which they received from England. The
hasis of their former
wealth was wholly arti-
ficial, and it is unlikely
that slavery and protec-
tion will eVer be- restored
for their benefit ; but it
may be regretted that
the necessary and salu-
tary reforms of which
they have been the
victims could not have
been more gradually ap-
plied in their case.
For the new Poor Law
of 1834 there can be
nothing but praise. It
ended a system which for
more than a generation
had been a national curse,
demoralising the labourer ,
encouraging improvidence
and immorality, taxing
all classes for the benefit
of the small farmer and
employer whom the misplaced philanthropy
of the legislature had enabled to cut down
wages below the margin of subsistence. Up
to the year 1795 the
English Poor Law had
been, save for one serious
defect, sound in principle.
The defect was the Law
of Settlement, first laid
down by an Act of 1662,
which enabled the local
authorities to prevent the
migration of labour from
one parish to another,
unless security could be
given that the immigrant
would not become a cliarge
upon the poor rate.
The result of this law
had been to stereotype
local inequalities in the
rate of wages and to take
from the labourer the
chief means of bettering
his position. It was
mitigated in 1795 to the
extent that the labourer
could be no longer sent back until he
actually became a charge upon the rates.
But about the same time the justices of
the peace began the practice of giving
c ' *8 tJ
LORD GREY
A disting'uished statesman, he succeeded his
father in 1807 as the second Earl Grey ; in the
first reformed Parliament he was at the head of
a powerful party, and passed the Act abolish-
ing slavery in the colonies. He died in 1S45.
LORD MELBOURNE
Twice Premier, he was in office at the accession
of Queen Victoria in 1S37. He was an " indolent
opportunist," and "kept his place in the early
years of Queen Victoria chiefly through the
favour of the young queen." He died in 1.S48.
poor-relief in aid of wages, and of making
relief proportionate to the size of the
applicant's" family. This practice was
confirmed by the Speenham-land Act of
1796. The legislature
acted thus in part from
motives of philanthropy,
in part under the behef
that the increase of popu-
lation was in every way
to be encouraged. The
Act was at once followed
by a drop in the rate of
agricultural wages and a
portentous increase of
poor-rates. In 1783 poor-
relief cost the country
about ;^2, 000,000 ; by
1 817 this sum had been
cpiadrupled. The evils
of the new system were
.lugmented by the absence
of any central authority
possessing power to en-
force uniform principles
and methods of relief.
The proposal to introduce
such an authority, and in
other respects to revive the leading ideas
of the Elizabethan Poor Law, was made by
a Royal Commission after the most careful
investigations. The new
Poor I.aw, 1834, em-
bodied the principal sug-
gestions of the commis-
sioners. It provided that
the workhouse test should
be once more rigidly
applied to all able-bodied
pauj^ers ; that parishes
should be grouped in
poor-law unions ; that
each parish should con-
tribute to the expenditure
of the union in propor-
tion to the numbers of
its paupers ; and that a
central board should be
appointed to control the
system. The new Poor
Law is still in force, so
far as its main principles
of administration are con-
cerned. But there have
been changes in the con-
stitution of the central authority, by
Acts of 1847, 1871, and 1894. The
Poor-law Board has been merged in the
Local Government Board ; and the
4809
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Boards of Guardians, which control the
local distribution of relief, are now demo-
cratic bodies, whereas, under the original
Act the justices of the peace held
office as ex-officio members.
The Poor Law Act was
followed by others for the
reform of municipal govern-
ment in 1835, o^ the Irish
tithe system in 1838, and for
the introduction of the
penny post in 1839. The new
Poor Law and the new mimi-
cipal system were also applied
to Ireland by special legisla-
tion. But larger questions
slumbered until the fonnation
of great political societies
forced them upon the un-
wiHing attention of ^Ministers
and both Houses of Parliament.
of the young queen. The Conservatives,
impatient for a return to power, were dis-
posed to bid against the Whigs for popular
favour. Neither . party desired extreme
reform. Lord John Russell
expressed the general senti-
ment when he stated his
conviction that the Reform
Bill had been the final step in
the direction of democracy'.
But neither party was strong
enough to resist external
pressiire. The rise of the
Chartist organisation in 1838
seemed likely, therefore, to
produce sweeping changes. It
was recruited from the labour-
ing classes and animated by
hostility to capital. It pro-
posed the establishment of
JEREMY BENTHAM
manf lociar/ncfpoift^li Sms radical dcmocracy as a panacea
The period of 1840-1850 which characterised the early vic- for the wrongs of Workmen.
'orian era were suggested by him. ,-r^^ ,, • , r . i i >
ihe five points of the people s
was peculiarly faxourable to
the democratic agitator. The Reform
WTiigs had maintained themselves in power
till the death of William IV. But their
majority was small, and their chief leader,
Melbourne, an indolent opportunist. He
kept his place in the early years of
Queen Victoria chiefly through the favour
charter were manhood suffrage, voting by
ballot, annual parliaments, payment of
members, and the abolition of the property
qualification for membership. These de-
mands were supported in the House of
Commons by the philosophic Radicals,
among whom Grote, the historian, was
THE REFORM RfCfTS AT BRISTOL IN OCTOBER, I8:n
From the drawing by L. Hagbc
4810
DESTRUCTION OF THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT ON OCTOBER IOth, 1s:U
This graphic scene depicts the aestruction by fire, on October 16th, 1834, of the Houses of Parliament, the picture
being made by the artist from a sketch taken by him by the light of the flames at the end of Abingdon Street.
From the drn-.ving by William Heath
influence was felt not
only in England but
in Wales, where it con-
tributed to produce
the Rebecca Riots,
1843. But the next
occasion on which
Chartism invaded the
capital was in 1848,
the year of revolu-
tions. It was an-
nounced that half a
million of Chartists
would assemble at a
given place on April
loth, and march in
procession to lay their
demands before the
House of Commons.
The danger seemed
great ; extensive
military preparations
were made under the
old Duke of Welling-
KiNG WILLIAM IV. ton, and the authori-
Though a Whig before his accession to the throne of tic^ anUOUUCed Oil the
Great Britain and Ireland in 1830, he became a Tory after appointed day that
his coronation, and used his influence to obstruct the .-r ij t ^
passing of the first Reform Act in 1832. He died in 1837. tncy WOUlQ USC lOrCC,
481I
the most conspicuous,
while in Feargus
O'Connor the Chart-
ists possessed a
popular orator of no
mean order. The
House of Commons
refused to consider
the first petition of
the Chartists in 1839.
The refusal was, how-
ever, followed by riots
in various localities;
and a second attempt
was made to move
Parliament in 1842;
when the Conserva-
tives, under Peel, had
wrested power from
the Whigs. But the
new Ministers were no
more pliable than the
old ; and a series of
prosecutions against
prominent Chartists
forced the movement
to assume a subterra-
nean character. Its
"YOUR MAJESTY!": ANNOUNCING TO PRINCESS VICTORIA THE FACT OF HER ACCESSION
On the death of King William IV. at Windsor Castle in 1837, his niece, Princess Victoria, succeeded to the throne.
Riding' through the night from Windsor to Kensington Palace, Dr. Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the
Marquess of Conyngham. Lord Chamberlain, awakened the young girl about five o'clock in the morning to tell her that
she was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. This dramatic incident is admirably represented in the above picture.
l-/.'ij. ilie ijaiiuing by .Mary L. Gow, by pcrinibsioii of the Berlin I'liotojjr.iiiliie Co.
4812
QUEEN VICTORIA IN HER CORONATION ROBES
Succeeding to the throne in 1837, at the early ag-e of eighteen years, Queen Victoria was crowned at
Westminster Abbey on June 28th, 1838. The youthful queen of Great Britain and Ireland is in this picture
represented in her coronation robes, standing in the dawn of the longest and most glorious reig^n in the nation's history.
rrom the paiming by Sir Gcc>rji<' H.t\-tcr
4813
4814
4^15
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
if necessary, to check the march of the pro-
ci^ssion. The Chartist leaders were cowed,
and contented themselves with submitting
their petition for the third time. A large
number of the signatures, which had been
estimated at 5,000,000. turned out to be
fictitious ; and amidst the ridicule ex-
cited by this discovery the Charter and
Chartists slipped into oblivion.
The collapse of Chartism was significant,
for the great Chartist demonstration was
contemporaneous with a series of revo-
lutionary movements on the Continent.
It meant that in England the people at
were the product of the great war. They
had been established for the protection of
the agricultural interest, and had alto-
gether excluded foreign corn from the
English market except while the price ol
English corn stood above eighty shillings,
so that the price of bread was maintained
at a very high figure. A modification had
been introduced, by which duties were
imposed on foreign corn, in place of the
import being prohibited, while home-
grown corn stood below eighty shillings,
the amount of the duty falling as the
price of English corn rose, and vice versa.
THE CORONA nON PROCESSION OF QUEEN VICTORIA
i ]■>'}. i the dr.iwingby Champion
large declined to believe in physical force
as the necessary means to attaining
political reforms, preferring the methods
of constitutional agitation. Chartism dis-
solved itself in the fiasco of 1848. But
the pohtical demands of the Chartists
were adopted by constitutional reformers,
and were in great part conceded during
the following half century — though they
have not brought the millennium. The
episode emphasised the sobriety of the
masses ; and the result was probably in
measure due to the improvement in the con-
ditions of the industrial population owing
1 ) the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.
We have remarked that the Corn Laws
4816
But this did not remove the obvious fact
that the cost of the staple food of the
working classes was kept high artificially,
in order to benefit or preserve the agri-
cultural interest. Apart from philan-
thropic considerations — though these
carried their due weight in many quarters —
the capitalist manufacturers, now the dom-
inant power in the House of Commons,
began to perceive that if the price of
bread fell the operatives could live on a
lower money wage, that the wages bill
would be lowered, and with it the cost of
production ; that is to say, the middle
classes saw that their ow^n interests would be
served by the abolition of the Corn Laws.
THE BRITISH ERA OF REFORM
The Anti-Corn Law League, first formed
in 1838, owed its existence to a serious
depression of the manufacturing indus-
tries. Cobden, Bright, and others of the
leading organisers were philanthropists
who saw the iniquity of artificially main-
taining the price of food when wages were
low and employment uncertain. They
recruited their supporters to a great
extent among the starving operatives of
the North and Midlands. But the funds
for the Free Trade campaign were largely
their own prospective ruin. The working
classes, however, were not convinced by
the Chartist doctrine, and felt that if
bread were cheaper life would be easier.
An Irish famine completed the conversion
of the Conservative leader. Sir Robert
Peel, who had already been agitating his
party for Free Trade measures and the
removal or reduction of duties protecting
British industries. He took a number of
his colleagues with him, but not the party
as a whole. Peelites and Whigs together
QUEEN VICTORIAS FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO THE CITY OF LONDON
The £rst official visit of Queen Victoria to the City of London was on Lord Mayor's Day, November 9th, 18:!7, and in
this picture her carriage is seen passing Temple Bar on the way to the Guildhall The picture is interesting not only
on account of its historic value, but also by reason of the glimpse which it gives of a part of London now entirely altered.
supplied by manufacturers. There was no
thought of giving to the masses the
franchise as a means of self-protection.
Accordingly, the extreme Chartists hated
the Free Traders, and openly opposed their
propaganda, on the ground that the
charter would secure to the people all,
and more than all, that was hoped from
the repeal of the Corn Laws. The class
character of the Free Trade agitation
was a source of weakness, because the
working-class agitators did not believe
that the labouring class would benefit by
it ; while the landed interest saw in it
carried the repeal of the Corn Laws, but
had hardly done so when the Protectionists
and extreme Radicals combined to defeat
the Ministry, and Peel's career as Prime
Minister was closed. The Whigs, sup-
ported by Peelites, assumed the govera-
ment, and were presently combined in
the Liberal party.
Colonial development has been dealt with
in detail elsewhere ; but certain points must
here be noticed. During the period under
consideration nearly the whole of the
Indian peninsula passed under the British
dominion as a result of the great Mahratta
4817
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
nar ; while the first Burmese war added
territories beyond the Bay of Bengal.
Under Bentinck's rule, progress was made
in the organisation of administration and
the development of education. On the
north-west, however, the aggression of
Persia, more or less under the agis of
Russia, produced British
intervention in the affairs
of Afghanistan, with dis-
astrous consequences, of
which the evil effects were
at any rate diminished by
the skilful operations of
Pollock and Knott. In the
same decade, however, the
British supremacy was
challenged by the Sikh
armyof thePimjab. Beaten
in the first struggle, the
Sikhs were renewing their
challenge in 1848, when
Lord Dalhousie arrived in
India to take up the gage ^
of battle and extend the
in North America, with the exception of
Newfoundland, as states of the Canadian
Dominion. The foundation was laid for
that system under which the colony was
no longer to be treated as a subordinate
section of the empire, but was to receive
full responsible government — a govern-
ment, that is, in which the
Ministers are responsible to
the representative assem-
blies as Ministers in England
are responsible to Parlia-
ment ; to become, in fact,
mutatis imitandis, a counter-
part of the United Kingdom,
practically independent ex-
cept in matters affecting
war and peace. Canada,
indeed, did not immediately
achieve this status even
after the Act of Reunion ;
but that Act may be re-
garded as initiating the
change which has since
been carried out in nearly
PRINCE ALBERT
British dominion, in 1849, "^^^ y'^ungfer son of the Duke of Saxe- all the British colonies where
over the Land of the Five ^:^::^iS:^.'^^S^X the white population has
Rivers up to the mountain and were married in i84o, the Prince then ccascd to bear the character
passes, thus completing the receiving the title of Royal Highness, ^f ^ garrisou. Of the
ring-fence of mountain and ocean girdhng religious movements in this period some
the British Empire in India. account will be found in a late^ chapter
In Australia the settlements, which at of this section. But we have still to review
first had been penal in character, were
assuming the form of true colonies, but
were not yet emancipated. In South
_ . Africa, transferred to Great
IhC Union r, ■. ■ ^J. i .^ tvt
of British ^^"i^am as a result of the Napo-
Colonies leonic war, a part of the Dutch
population — partly in conse-
quence of the abolition of slavery — began
here a development of English literature
which has no parallel except in the Shake-
spearean era, for the beginnings of which
we must go back to the Revolution epoch.
During three-fourths of the eighteenth
century, classicalism had dominated prose
and poetry alike. In place of poems,
satires, epigrams, admirable essays and
during the fourth decade of the century to dissertations in verse had been produced
remove itself beyond the sphere of British
interference, and to found the com-
munities which developed into the Orange
Free State and the Transvaal Republic.
It was, however, almost at the moment
of Queen Victoria's accession that' dis-
satisfaction with the existing system in the
colonies of Upper, and Lower Canada,
which had been established in the time of
the younger Pitt, reached an acute stage,
issuing in insurrection and in the dispatch
of the epoch-making commission of Lord
Durham. The report of the commissioner
was the starting-point virtually of a new
theory of colonial relations. It led
directly to the Act of Reunion of 1842,
which was gradually followed by the
federal union of all the British colonies
4818
in abundance in strict accord with rigid
conventions ; no scope had been granted
to the lyrical utterance of passion, and
spontaneity had been repressed as barbaric
or at least- impolite. But the spirit which
was rousing itself to a stormy attack
on social and political conventions was
not to spare the conventions of literature.
, These were, indeed, set at
The Genius j^^^gj^^ ^y ^^g jy^ical genius
° , _ of Robert Burns, whose first
Robert Burns . c j ■
volume of poems appeared lu
1786. Burns, however, was not a pioneer
in the true sense— consciously promul-
gating a new theory. Essentially his
work was the most splendid expression
of a poetical type which had always
flourished in Scotland outside the realms
THE BRITISH ERA OF REFORM *
of polite literature. But its power and
fascination arrested attention, and carried
the conviction that subjects forbidden
by the critics as vulgar were capable of
treatment which was undeniably poetical.
He demonstrated anew that the poet's
true function is to appeal to the emotions
of men, and that this may be done through
the medium of language which is not at
all cultured. Unlike Burns, however, the
so-called " Lake School " of. Wordsworth
and Coleridge were conscious exponents of
a theory which defied the crit-
f Gel\ ^^^^ dogmas of the day. But
p '** Coleridge's practice contra-
dicted a part of his own theory,
and when Wordsworth acted upon it in its
entirety, he did not write poetry. Their
revolt against artificial language and
artificial restrictions of subject led them
virtually to affirm that the best poetry
may treat of commonplace matters in
commonplace language.
The paradox becomes obvious when we
perceive that Coleridge is never common-
place, and that it is precisely when he is
not commonplace that Wordsworth is
great, though unfortunately he never
recognised that truth himself. The familiar
fact must yield the unfamiliar thought ;
the familiar terms must combine in the
unfamiliar phrases which stamp themselves
upon the mind. The current criticism erred,
not in condemning the commonplace, but
in identifying the commonplace with the
superficially familiar, and treating con-
ventions as fundamental laws of art.
Til at these were errors was conclusively
proved by the practice rather than by th(;
critical expositions of the Lake school.
The volume of " Lyrical Ballads," which
contained " Tintern Abbey" and the
" Ancient Mariner," was a sufficient
refutation of the orthodox doctrines.
The poetical work which was produced
in the twenty-six years- which passed
between the publication of the " Lyrical
Ballads," 1798, and the death of Byron,
1824, travelled far enough from the
standards of the eighteenth century.
Within that period Sir Walter Scott
adapted the old ballad form to metrical
narrative, and turned men's minds back
to revel in the gorgeous aspect of the
Middle Ages, somewhat forgetful of their
ugly side. Byron burst upon the public,
an avowed rebel, whose tragic poses were
unfortunately only too easy of imitation
A ROYAL ROMANCE : THE MARRIAGE OF QUEEN VICTORIA IN 1840
The interesting ceremony represented in the above picture took place at the Chapel Royal, St. James's, on February
10th, 1840. Queen Victoria was then in her twenty-first year, while Prince Albert was three months her junior.
From the painting by Sir George Hayter
4819
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
by a host of self-conscious rhymesters, and
gave vice a morbid picturesqueness ; but
redeemed himself by tlie genuineness of
his passion for liberty, and died at Misso-
longhi fighting for the
liberation of Greece.
Shelley, a rebel of another
kind, shocked the world
by his Promethean defi-
ance of an unjust God, of
tyranny in every form,
but was, in fact, the
prophet not of atheism
and materialism, but of
an intensely spiritual
pantheism ; the most
ethereal, most intangible,
most exquisite among the
masters of song. John
Keats died when he was
only five-and-twenty, but
he had already lived long
enough to win for him-
self a secure place in the
elysium of " poets dead
and gone." His poetry
RICHARD COBDEN
'The Apostle of Free Trade," he denounced
as iniquitous artificially to maintain the price
of food when wages were low and employ-
had already developed a new type of the
novelist's art, in the " Pickwick Papers " ;
but his great contemporary and rival,
William Makepeace Thackeray, had not
yet achieved fame in this
field. The Bronte sisters,
however, with " Wuther-
ing Heights" and "Jane
Eyre," 1847, had just
given convincing proof,
if any were needed after
Jane Austen, Scott's con-
temporary, that the novel
is a literary instrument
which woman can handle
as successfully as man.
By that time all the great
poets of the Revolution
era had passed away,
save Wordsworth, who
was all but an octo-
genarian ; but the stars
of Tennyson and Brown-
ing had already appeared
above the horizon.
The time of ferment
is the practical expression ment uncertain, and to his labours was largely which produCCd thls OUt-
, r \. , due the abolition of the Corn Laws in 1846. •, , r -i-, ,■ ■,
of his own dictum :
" Beauty in truth, truth beauty ; that is
all. ye know on earth, and all ye need to
know." Among great English poets there
is no other whose work
is so devoid of all ethical
element, none in whom
the sense of pure beauty
is so overmastering or its
rendering more perfect.
Among the poets whom
we have named, Byron's
influence alone was Euro-
pean ; but that influence
pales by the side of
Walter Scott's in the
realm of prose romance.
There were novelists
before Scott, but it was
he who gave to the novel
that literary predomin-
ance which at one time
characterised the drama.
Practically it was he who
burst of literary activity
was also responsible for two new movements
of English thought, the utihtarian and the
idealist. Utilitarianism is the sceptical
, and inductive spirit of
such eighteenth - century
thinkers as David Hume,
I applied to the study of
morals and social institu-
tions. The movement
began with the French
Encyclopaedists ; it came
to England through
Jeremy Bentham, 1748-
1832, than whom no man
has exercised a more far-
reaching influence on the
thought or government of
modern England. Most
of the social and political
reforms which charac-
terise the early Victorian
era were suggested by
Bentham. His two great
JOHN BRIGHT
revealed the capacities of Along with Cobden and others in the agitation works, the "Fragment on
prose romance 'for the against the Com Laws, John Bright used Government," 1776, and
yLKjjy^ 1 wiiiu-iiv^v- xKJi i-iiv^ his great eloqueuce both in Parliament and OH i, n ■ • i r n/r i-
portravalof character and the public platform to further the cause of Free the Prmciplcs ot Morals
of picturesque incident,
through the amazing achievement of the
series of "Waverley Novels," whereof the
first appeared in 18 14. Before the close of
our period, the genius of Charles Dickens
4820
Trade. He held office in later Ministries
and Legislation," 1789,
belong chronologically to the age of the
Revolution ; but it was only in later life
that Bentham became a prophet among
his own people. His greatest disciple was
THE CHRISTENING OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE IN K40
Froiu the paintin ^ by C. R. Leslie
CHRISTENING THE PRINCE OF WALES, THE PRESENT KING EDWARD, IN 1S41
From llie painting l>y Sir Gcrge H.rytcr
DOMESTIC EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA
4821
Robert Burns, 1759-96 William Wordsworth, 1770-1850 S. T. Coleridge, 1772-1 s:S4
W. M. Thackeray, 1811-63
Charles Dickens, 1812-70
Charlotte Bronte, l,sUi-5.j
GREAT MEN AND WOMEN OF LETTERS FROM BURNS TO CHARLOTTE BRONTE
4822
THE BRITISH ERA OF REFORM
John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873, whose versa-
tile genius never showed to more advantage
than when he was handling social questions
in Bentham's spirit. Milf was not so
rigorous a thinker as Bentham : but the
mora! enthusiasm of the younger man, his
power of exposition, and his suscepti-
bility to the best ideas of his time gave
him the resi)ectful attention of all thought-
tuj minds. What Bentham did for the
theory of legislation. Mill did for the
theory of wealth. Mill's "Political Eco-
nomy," 1848, although largely based
upon the investigations of Adam Smith,
Ricardo, and Malthus, marks an era in
the history of that science. Mill was the
first to define with accuracy the proper
limits of economic study.
He originated a number
of new theories. He
diagnosed the economic
evils of his time and sug-
gested practical remedies.
Above all, however, he
was the first to see the
parts of economic science
in their true pro})ortions
and to connect them as
an ordered whole. The
tendency of modern
thought is to belittle the
deductive school of econo-
mists which Mill repre-
sents ; but his claim to
be regarded as the classic
of that school has never
SIR WALTER
been disputed. Similarlv, . ^ . ,. . c- ..
1 ■, ■ f ■ ■ ' As poet and novelist Scott occupies
by his later WntmgS on place among the worlds writers.
trade of the Tractarians, whose attempt
to imbue Anglican dogmas with a new
significance and to destroy the insularity
of the Established Church is the most
remarkable phenomenon in the religious
history of modern England. The idealists
found a })owerful though erratic ally in
Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881. In literature
a romantic of the most lawless sort,
unequalled in power of ]?hrase, in pictorial
imagination, and in dramatic humour, but
totally deficient in architectonic skill.
Carlyle wrote one history, " The French
Revolution," 1837, and two biographies,
" Cromwell," 1S45, " Frederick the
Great," 1858-1865, of surpassing interest.
But his most characteristic utterances
are to be found in " Sartor
Resartus," 1833, and
Heroes and Hero-
Worship," 1841, the first
a biting attack upon
formalism and dogma, the
second a vindication of
the importance of indi-
vidual genius in maintain-
ing and in reforming the
social fabric. Carlyle's
gospel of labour and
silence, and his preference
for the guidance of instinct
as opposed to that of
conscious reflection, have
exercised a great, though
indeterminate, influence
upon man\ thinkers who
are unconscious of their
a unique , , . , , ■
From his det:)t tO hUU.
Carlvle's characteristics
SCOTT
I iKfir+T7 " T^iTi anrl fertile pen ca.me a rich library of stirring tales
l.iueity, ^^y), d-llU ^11 aglow with the magic of romance and
' Representative Govern- revealing a creative genius unmatched since can hardly be brought out
„ i. " ^01^ -u u Shakespeare. Born in 1771, he died in 1S32. '^ -ji ai „ u
ment, 1860, he became ^ more vividly than by
placing his work beside that of Thomas
the accredited exponent of Enghsh
Liberalism ; while his essay on " Utili-
tarianism," i86r, by giving a larger and
less material interpretation to Bentham's
formula, " the greatest happiness of the
greatest number," did much to bring out
the common basis of belief on which
Liberals and idealists have conducted
their long controversy. ■
The idealist movement begins with
Coleridge, whose philosophic writings,
notably the " Aids to Reflection," pub-
lished in 1825, although fragmentary and
unsystematic, are the first sign of a
reaction among English metaphysicians
against Hume's disintegrating criticism.
In a diluted and theological form the new
tenets formed the intellectual stock in
Babington Macaulay, no idealist, but a
typical Whig, whose clear-cut antithetical
style made him the past-master of popular
exposition, and the still prevalent model
for the essayist and the historian.
Finally, we note the appearance of John
Ruskin, whose " Modern Painters " began
to appear in 1842. Entering the literary
field primarily as a critic of the arts of
painting and architecture, Ruskin extended
his criticism, constructive and destructive,
to literature and economics, the essential
characteristic of his teaching being insist-
ence on the ethical basis o." all human
energies : teaching expressed with unsur-
passed eloquence.
H. W. C. Davis; -A. D. Innes
4823
AS SEEN FROM THE FANALE MARITTIMO LIGHTHOUSE
THE TOWN AND HARBOUR VIEWED FROM THE NORTH - EAST
Photochrome
TRIESTE, THE CHIEF SEAPORT OF AUSTRIA ■ HUNGARY
4824
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE
AFTER
WATERLOO
III
THE REACTION IN CENTRAL EUROPE
AND THE ASCENDANCY OF METTERNICH
'"FHE Austrian state, totally disor-
* ganjsed by the period of the French
Revolution and Napoleonic wars, had
nevertheless succeeded in rounding off
its territories at the Congress of Vienna.
In internal affairs Francis I. and Metter-
nich tried as far as possible to preserve
the old order of things ; they wished for
an absolute monarchy, and favoured the
privileged classes. There was no more
tenacious supporter of what was old, no
more persistent observer of routine than
the good Emperor Francis. He was an
absolute ruler in the spirit of conservatism.
He saw a national danger in any move-
ment of men's minds which deviated from
the letter of his commands, hated from
the first all innovations, and ruled his
people from the Cabinet. He delighted to
travel through his dominions, and receive
the joyful greetings of his loyal subjects,
since he laid the highest value on popu-
^ ^ . larity ; notwithstanding all his
-. ^"^ keenness of observation and
P*"** *". his industry, he possessed no
ideas of his own. Even Metter-
nich was none too highly gifted in this
respect. Francis made, at the most, only
negative use of the abundance of his
supreme power. Those who served him
were bound to obey him blindlv : but he
lacked the vigour and strength of character
for great and masterful actions ; his
thoughts and wishes were those of a
permanent official. Like Frederic William
HI., he loathed independent characters,
men of personal views, and he therefore
treated his brothers Charles and John
with unjustified distrust.
The only member of his family really
acceptable to him was his youngest
brother, the narrow-minded and character-
less Lewis. On the other hand, Francis
was solicitous for the spread of beneficial
institutions, and for the regulation of the
legal system ; in 1811 he introduced the
" Universal Civil Code," and in so doing
completed the task begun by Maria
Theresa and Joseph II. His chief defect
was his love of trifling details, which de-
prived him of any comprehensive view of
a subject ; and his constant interference
with' the business of the Council of State
prevented any svstematic conduct of affairs.
. . , Francis owed it to Metternich
„. , „ ... that Austria once more held
High Position ,, 1,- 1 - •.•
. r the highest position in
in Europe „ « /u r 1 j
Europe: he was thereioreglad
to entrust him with the management of
foreign policy while he contented himself
with internal affairs. Metternich was the
centre of European diplomacy ; but he
was only a diplomatist, no statesman like
Kaunitz and Felix Schwarzenberg. He
did not consolidate the new Austria tor the
future, but only tried to check the wheel
of progress and to hold the reins with
the assistance of his henchman Gentz ;
everything was to remain stationary.
The police zealously helped to main-
tain this principle of government, and
prosecuted every free-thinker as sus-
pected of democracy. Austria was in
the fullest sense a country of police ;
it supported an army of " mouchards "
and informers. The post-office officials
disregarded the privacy of letters, spies
watched teachers and students in the
academies ; even such loyal Austrians as
Grillparzer and Zedlitz came into collision
with the detectives. The censorship was
blindly intolerant and pushed its inter-
ference to extremes. Public education,
from the university down to the village
school, suffered under the suspicious
tutelage of the authorities ; school and
Church alike were unprogres-
sive. The provincial estates,
both in the newly-acquired
and in the recovered Crown
lands, were ins'gnificant, leading, as a
matter of fact, a shadowy existence,
V hich reflected the depressed condition of
the population. But Hungary, which,
since the time when Maria Theresa was
hard pressed, had insisted on its national
4825
Reign of
Suspicion and
Espionage
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Szechenyi " the
Greatest of
the Hungarians"
independence, was not disposed to descend
i>om its h-ight to the g-neral insignificance
of the other Crown lands, and th; Archduke
Palatine, Joseph, thoroughly shared this
id.^a. It was therefore certain that soon
there would be an embittered struggle with
th-^ government at Vienna,
which wished to render the
constitution of Hungary as
unreal as that of Carniola
and Tyrol. The indignation found its
expression chiefly in the assemblies of
the counties, which boldly contradicted
the arbitrary and stereotyped commands
from Vienna, while a group of the nobility
itself supported the view that the people,
hitherto excluded from political life,
should share in the movement. In the
Reichstag of 1825 this group spoke very
distinctly against the exclu-
sive rule of the nobility.
The violent onslaught of the
Reichstag against the Govern-
ment led, it is true, to no
result; the standard-bearer of
that g "oup was Count Stephen
Szechenyi, whom his antago-
nist, Kossuth, called " the
greatest of the Hungarians."
The Archduke Rainer, to
whom the viceroyalty of the
ItaHan possessions had been
entrusted, was animated by
the best intention of pro-
moting the happiness of ths
Lombard- Venetian kingdom,
and of familiarising the
Italians with the Austrian
rule ; but he was so hampered
by instructions from Vienna that he could
not exercise any marked influence on the
Government. The Italians would hear
nothing of the advantages of the Austrian
rule, opposed all " Germanisation," and
prided themselves on their old nationality.
Literature, the Press, and secret societies
aimed at national objects and encouraged
independence, while Metternich thought
of an Italian confederation on the German
model, and under the headship of Austria.
It was also very disastrous that the
leading circles at Vienna regarded Italy
as the chief support of the whole policy
of the empire, and yet failed to understand
the great diversity of social and political
conditions in the individual states of the
peninsula. Metternich, on the other hand,
employed every forcible means to oppose
the national wishes, which he regarded,
4826
FRANCIS I. CF AUSTRIA
He succeeded his father, Leopold
II., as Emperor of Germany, but
in 1804 he renounced the title of
German-Roman Emperor, retain-
ing that of Emperor of Austria.
both there and in Germany, as outcomes
of the revolutionary spirit. Yet the hopes
of the nations on both sides of the Alps
were not being realised ; the " Golden
Age " had still to come.
The condition of the Austrian finances
was deplorable. Since the year 1811,
when Count Joseph Wallis, the Finance
Minister, had devised a system which
reduced by one-fifth the nominal value of
the paper money — which had risen to the
amount of 1,060,000,000 gulden — per-
manejit bankruptcy had prevailed. Silver
disappeared from circulation, the national
credit fell very low, and the revenue was
considerably less than the expenditure,
which was enormously increased by the
long war. In the year 1814 Count
Stadion, the former Minister of the
Interior, undertook the thank-
less duties of Minister of
Finance. He honestly exerted
himself to improve credit,
introduce a fixed monetary
standard, create order on a
consistent plan, and with
competent colleagues to de-
velop the economic resources
of the nation. But various
financial measures were neces-
sary before the old paper
money could be withdrawn
en bloc, and silver once more
put into circulation. New
loans had to be raised, which
increased the burden of in-
terest, in the years 1816 to
1823, from 9,000,000 gulden
to 24,000,000, and the annual
expenditure for the national debt from
12,000,000 to 50,000,000. The National
Bank, opened in 1817, afforded efficient
help. If Stadion did not succeed in
remodelling the system of indirect taxes,
and if the reorganisation of the land-
tax proceeded slowly, the attitude of
Hungary greatly added to the difficulties
of the position of the great Minister of
reform, who died in May, 1824. The state
of the Emperor Francis was
naturally the Promised Land
of custom-house restrictions
and special tariffs ; industry
and trade were closely barred in. In
vain did clear-headed politicians advise
that all the hereditary dominions, ex-
cepting Hungary, should make one
customs district ; although the Govern-
ment built commercial roads and canals,
The Promised
Land of
Restrictions
THE REACTION IN CENTRAL EUROPE
still the trade of th- empire with foreign
countries was stagnant. Trieste never
became for Austria that which it might
have been ; it was left for Karl Ludwig
von Bruck of Elberfeld to mak^ it in
1833, a focus of the trade
of the world by foundinc:
the Austrian-Lloyd Ship
ping Company. Rfd
tape prevailed in the
army, innovations were
shunned, and the reforms
of the Archduke Charles
were interrupted. This
was the outlook in
Austria, the " Faubourg
St. Germain of Europe."
Were things better in
the rival state of Prussia ?
Frederic William III. was
the type of a homely
bourgeois, a man of
sluggish intellect and of
a cold scepticism, which
contrasted sharply with
its opponents, although the old tutelage
of the Church under the supreme bishop
of the country still continued to be felt,
and Frederic William, both in the secular
and spiritual domain, professed an abso-
lutism which did not
care to see district and
provincial synods estab-
lished by its side. The
union, indeed, produced
no peace in the Church,
but became the pretext
for renewed quarrels ;
nevertheless it was intro-
duced into Nassau,
P>aden, the Bavarian
Palatinate, Anhalt, and
a part of Hesse in the
same way as into Prussia.
The king wished to give
to the Catholic Church
also a systematised and
profitable development,
and therefore entered
mto negotiations with
METTERNICH IN LATER LIKE
the patriotic fire'and self- ^l:''"r'^VTN^''T °' ■'^T.Tt^^^^^^^ Cuna, which were
i . r 1 • after the fall of Napoleon in 181.j stands out j i. j u +1
devotion of his people, prominently in the history of the period. He COndUCtCd by tllC am-
His main object was to was the centre of European diplomacy, but he baSSador Barthold G.
secure tranquillity ; the ""^^ °"'y ^ diplomatist and not a statesman. Niebuhr, a great historian
storm of the war of liberation, so foreign but weak diplomatist. Niebuhr and Alten-
to his sympathies, had blown over, and
he now wished to govern his kingdom
in peace. Religious questions interested
him more than
those of politics ;
he was a positive
Christian, and it
was the wish of
his heart to
amalgamate the
Lutheran and
the Reformed
Churches, an at-
tempt to which
the spirit of the
age seemed very
f a V c u r a b 1 1
When the tri-
centenary of the
Reformation was
commemorated
Szucht-nyi
Josepa
LEADERS OF HUNGARIAN INDEPENDENCE
Insisting: on its national independence, Hungary was unwilling to
descend to the insignificance of the other Crown lands under Austria,
in the year 1817, and both the Archduke Palatine, Joseph, and Count Stephen Sztxhenyi
he appealed for assisted the movement in assembUes and elsewhere. Szechenyl was de- Paderbom, BreS-
the union of the scribed by his antagonist Kossuth as "the greatest of the Hungarians." |^^^^ Kulm, and
Ermeland bishoprics, each with a clerical
seminary. The cathedral chapters
stein, the Minister of Public Worship, made
too many concessions to the Curia, and
were not a match for Consalvi, the
Cardinal Secre-
tary of State.
On Jtily i6th.
1821, Pope Pius
VIL issued the
Bull, " De salute
a n i m a r um,"
which was fol-
lowed by an ex-
planatory brief,
" Quod de fide-
lium." The king
confirmed the
agreement by an
order of the Cabi-
net ; Cologne and
Posen became
archbishoprics,
Treves, Munster,
Iby hisantagon
two confessions, and found much response.
The new Liturgy of 182 1, issued with his
own concurrence, found great opposition,
especially among the Old Lutherans ; its
second form, in 1829, somewhat conciliated
were conceded the right of electing
the bishop, who, however, had neces-
sai'ily to be a persona grata to the king.
4827
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
The truce did not, indeed, last long ;"
the question of mixed marriages led to
renewed controversy. Subsequently to
1803, the principle held good in the
eastern provinces of Prussia that the
children in disputed cases should follow
the religion of the father, a view that
conflicted with a Bull of 1741 ; now, after
1825, the order of 1803 was to
be vahd for the Rhine province,
The Problem
of Mixed
Marriages
which was for the most part
Catholic. But the bishops of the
districts a})pealed in 1828 to Pope Leo XII.
He and his successor, Pius VIII., con-
ducted long negotiations with the Prussian
ambassador, Bunsen, who, steeped in the
spirit of romanticism, saw the surest pro-
tection against the revolution in a close
adherence between national governments
and the Curia.
Pius VIII., an enemy of all enlighten-
ment, finally, by a brief of 1830, permitted
the consecration of mixed marriages only
when a promise was given that the children
born from the union would be brought
up in the Catholic faith ; but the Prussian
Government did not accept the brief, and
matters soon came to a dispute between
the Curia and the Archbishop of Cologne.
It was excessively difftcult to form the
new Prussian state into a compact unity
of a firm and flexible type. Not merely
its elongated shape, its geographical inco-
herency, and the position of Hanover as an
excrescence on its body, but above every-
thing its composition out of a hundred
territorial fragments with the most diver-
sified legislatures and the most rooted
dislike to centralisation, the aversion of
the Rhenish Catholics to be included in the
state which was Protestant by history and
character, and the stubbornness of the
Poles in the countries on the Vistula, quite
counterbalanced a growth in population,
nowmorethan doubled, which was welcome
in itself. By unobtrusive and successful
labour the greatest efforts were made to-
_, - , wards establishing some deeree
The New r •, ^, ■? , j. '^■,
p . of unity. 1 he ideal of unity
cj could not be universally realised
in the legal system and the ad-
ministration of justice. The inhabitants,
therefore, of the Rhenish districts were con-
ceded the Code Napoleon, with juries and
oral procedure, but the larger part of the
monarchy was given the universal common
law. The narrow-minded and meddlesome
system of the excise and the local variations
of the land-tax system were intolerable.
4828
The root . idea of the universal duty of
bearing arms, that pillar of the monarchy,
was opposed on many sides. This institu-
tion, which struck deeply into family life,
met with especial opposition and discon-
tent in the newly acquired provinces. In
large circles there prevailed the wish that
there should no longer be a standing army.
But finally the constitution of the army
was adhered to ; it cemented together the
different elements of the country. The
ultimate form was that of three years'
active service, two years' service in the
reserve, and two periods of service in the
militia, each of seven years. The fact
that the universal duties of bearing arms
and defending the country were to be
permanent institutions made Frederic
William suspicious. His narrow-minded
but influential brother-in-law, Duke
Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the sworn
opponent of the reform legislation of Stein,
Hardenberg, andScharnhorst, induced him
to believe that a revolutionary party,
whose movements were obscure, wanted
to employ the militia against the throne,
and advised, as a counter precaution, that
the militia and troops of the
n- -A A ■ t ^''^^ should be amalgamated.
V c m -g^^^ ^j^^ originator of the law
of defence, the Minister of
War, Hermann von Boyen, resolutely
opposed this blissful necessity. An ordin-
ance of April 30th, 1815, divided Prussia
into ten provinces ; but since East and
West Prussia, Lower Rhine and Cleves-
Berg were soon united, the number was
ultimately fixed at eight, which were
subdivided into administrative districts.
Lords-lieutenant were placed at the
head of the provinces instead of the
former provincial Ministries. Their ad-
ministrative sphere was accurately defined
by a Cabinet order of November 3rd, 1817 ;
they represented the entire Government,
and fortunately these responsible posts
were held by competent and occasionally
prominent men. The amalgamation of the
new territories with Old Prussia was
complete, both externally and internally,
howev-er difficult the task may have been
at first in the province of Saxony and
many other parts, and however much
consistency and resolution may have been
wanting at headquarters, in the immediate
vicinity of Frederic William. But the
struggle with the forces of local particu-
larism was long and obstinate. The
great period of Prince Hardenberg,
THE REACTION IN CENTRAL EUROPE
Chancellor of State, was over. He could
no longer master the infinity of work
which rested upon him, got entangled in
intrigues and escapades, associated with
despicable companions, and immediately
lost influence with the king, himself the soul
of honour ; his share in the
reorganisation of Prussia after
the wars of liberation was
too small. On the other hand,
he guarded against Roman en-
croachment, and assiduously
worked at the question of the
constitution. His zeal to
realise his intentions there
too frequently left the field
open to the reactionaries in
another sphere. Most of the
higher civil servants admired
the official liberalism of the
chancellor, and therefore, like
order to recommend themselves to the
Governments as saviours of the threatened
society. The indignation at their false-
hoods was general ; there appeared
numerous refutations, the most striking of
which proceeded from the pen of Schleier-
machcr and Niebuhr. The
Prussian and Wiirtemberg
Governments, however, stood
on the side of Schmalz and
his companions, and rewarded
his falsehood with a decora-
tion and acknowledgment.
Frederic William HI., indeed,
strictly forbade, in January,
1816, any further literary
controversy about secret
combinations, but at the
same time renewed the pro-
hibition on such societies, at
which great rejoicings broke
Hardenberg and Stein, ap- frederic william hi. out in Vienna. He also for
peared to the reactionaries He ascended the throne of Prussia ]-,j^(je tj^g further appearance
as patrons of the extravagant Teste^'i;! TeUgiou? qSons," he ^i the " Rhenish Mercury,"
enthusiasm and Teutonis- did much to further the union of the which demanded a constitu-
ing "agitation of the youth — Lutheran and Reformed Churches, tion and liberty of the Press,
as secret democrats, in short. Boyen was Gneisenau was removed from the general
command in Coblenz. Wittgenstein's
spies were continual!}' active. The
emancipation of the Jews, m contradiction
to the royal edict of 1812, lost ground
The Act for the regulation of landed pro-
, perty proclaimed in Septem-
ber, 1811, was "explained"
in 1816, in a fashion which
favoured so greatly the pro-
perty of the nobles at the
cost of the property of the
peasants that it virtually re-
pealed the Regulation Act.
In the course of the last
decade there had been fre-
quent talk of a General
Council. Stein's programme
of 1808 proposed that the
Council of State should be the
highest ratifying authority for
acts of legislation. Harden-
berg, on the other hand, fear-
the closest supjiorter of Hardenberg ; the
Finance Minister, Count Biilow, lormerly
the distinguished Finance Minister of the
kingdom of Westphalia, usually supported
him. while the chief of the War Office,
Witzleben, the inseparable ;
coimsellor of the king, who
even ventured to work counter
to the Duke of Mecklenburg,
was one of the warmest advo-
cates of the reform of Stein
and Hardenberg. The re-
actionaries, under Marwitz
and other opponents of the
great age of progress relied on
the Ministers of the Interior
and of the Police, the over-
cautious Schuckmann and
Prince William of Wittgen-
stein. The latter was a bitter
enemy of German patriotism
and the constitution, and the
best of the tools of Metter- thoid 'Niebuhr""in" i82-r7oo'k up ing for his own supremacy,
nich at the court of Berlin, his residence at Bonn, and gave had Contemplated in 1810
The reaction which naturally a great impetus to historicaiiearn- giving the council a far more
f 11 1,1 1 .1 r '"ET °y n's lectures m that city. " i , »i t-> j. -ii,
followed the exuberant love of modest role. But neither
NIEBUHR THE HISTORIAN
Distinguished as a historian, Bar-
freedo n shown in the wars of liberation
was peculiarly felt in Prussia. Janke,
Schmalz, the brothei -in-law of Scharn-
horst, and other place-hunters clumsily
attacked in pamphlets the " seducers of
the people " and the " demagogues," in
scheme received a trial ; and in many
quarters a Council of State was only
thought of with apprehension. When,
then, finally the ordinance of March 20tli.
1817, established the Council of State, it
was merely the highest advisory authority,
4829
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the foremost rounsellor of the Crown, and
Stein's name was missing from the list of
those summoned by the king.
The first labours of the Council of State
were directed to the reform of the taxa-
tion, which Count Biilow, the Finance
Minister, wished to carry out in the spirit
of modified Free Trade. His schemes were
very aggressive, and aimed at
The Aggressive
Schemes of
Count Biilow
freedom of inland commerce,
but showed that, considering
the financial distress of the
mom.enf. the state of the national debt,
which in 1818 amounted to 217,000,000
thalers, ^33.000,000, the want of credit,
and the deficit, no idea of any remission
of taxation could be entertained. In
fact, Biilow demanded an increase of the
inchrect taxes, a proposal which naturally
hit the lower classes very hard. Humboldt
headed the opponents of Biilow, and a bitter
struggle broke out. The notables convened
in the provinces to express their \'iews re-
jected Billow's taxes on meal and meat, but
pionounced in favour of the direct personal
taxation, graduated according to classes.
Biilow was replaced as Finance ]\Iinister
at the end of 1S17 by Klewitz — the extent
of whose office was, however, much dim-
inished by all sorts of limitations — and
received the newly created post of Minister
of Trade and Commerce. In Altenstein,
who between 1808 and 1810 had failed to
distinguish himself as Finance Minister,
Prussia found a born Minister of Pul^lic
Worship and Education.
In spite of many unfavourable conditions
he put the educational system on a sound
footing ; he introduced in 1817 the pro-
vincial bodies of teachers, advocated uni-
versal compulsory attendance at school,
encouraged the national schools, and was
instrumental in uniting the University of
Wittenberg with that of Halle, and in
founding the Universit}' of Bonn in 1818.
Biilow, a pioneer in his own domain,
not inferior to Altenstein in the field of
. Church and school, adminis-
u ow s tei-e(j the customs department.
nana on the . j u .11 j
^ supported by the shrewd
Maassen. The first preparatory
steps were taken in 1816, especially in
June, by the abolition of the waterway
tolls and the inland and provincial
duties. A Cabinet Order of August ist,
1817, sanctioned for all time the principle
of free importation, and Maassen drew
up tfic Customs Act, which became law
on May 26th. 1818, and came into force
4830
at the beginning of 1819, according to
Trcitschke "' the most liberal and matured
politico-economic law of those days " ; it
was simplified in 1821 to suit the spirit
of Free Trade, and the tolls were still more
lowered. An order of February 8th, 1819,
exempted from taxation out of the list
of inland products only wine, beer, brandy,
and leaf tobacco ; on May 30th, 1820, a
graduated personal tax and corn duties
were introduced.
Thus a well-organised system of taxation
was founded, which satisfied the national
economy for some time. All social forces
were left with free power of movement and
scope for expansion. It mattered little if
manufacturers complained, so long as the
national prosperity, which was quite
shattered, revived. Prussia gradually
found the way to the German Customs
Union. No one, it is true, could yet
predict that change ; but, as if with a
presentiment, complaints of the selfish-
ness and obstinacy of the tariff loan were
heard beyond the Prussian frontiers.
What progress had been made with the
constitution granting provincial estates
and popular representation,
Retrogression ■ j u i.i i • u j.u
promised by the king by the
«r-.,^^ ^"*^ edict of ]\Iav 22nd, 1815 ?
1 he commission promised tor
this purpose was not summoned until
March 30th, 1817. Hardenberg directed the
proceedings since it had assembled on July
7th in Berlin, sent Altenstein, Beyme, and
Klewitz to visit the provinces in order to
collect thorough evidence of the existing
conditions, and received reports, which
essentially contradicted each other.
It appeared most advisable that the
Ministers should content themselves with
establishing provincial estates, and should
leave a constitution out of the question.
Hardenberg honestly tried to make pro-
gress in the question of the constitution
and to release the royal word which had
been pledged ; Frederic William, on the
contrary, regretted having given it, and
gladly complied with the retrogressive
tendencies of the courtiers and supporters
of the old regime. He saw with concern
the contests in the South German chambers
and the excitement among the youth of
Germany ; he pictured to himself the
horrors of a revolution, and Hardenberg
could not carry his point.
The Federal Diet, the union of the princes
of Germany, owed its existence to the
Act of Federation of June 8th. 1815, which
THE REACTION IN CENTRAL EUROPE
could not possibly satisfy the hopes of a
nation which had conqtiered a Napoleon.
Where did the heroes of the wars of
liberation find any guarantee for their
claims ? Of what did the national rights
consist, and what protection did the whole
Federation offer against foreign countries ?
Even the deposed and mediatised princes
of the old empire were deceived in their
last hopes ; they had once more dreamed
of a revival of their independence. But
they were answered with cold contempt
that the new political organisation of
Germany demanded that the princes and
counts, who had been found already
mediatised, should remain incorporated
into other political bodies or be incorpor-
ated afresh ; that the Act of Federation
involved the implicit recognition of this
necessity. The Act of Federation pleased
hardly anyone, not even its own designers.
The opening of the Federal Diet, con-
vened for September ist, 1815, was
again postponed, since negotiations were
taking place in Paris, and there were
various territorial disputes between the
several federal states to be decided.
, Austria was scheming for Salz-
f *f"/^ burg and the Breisgau, Bavaria
„ for the Baden Palatinate ;
the two had come to a mutual
agreement at the cost of the House of
Baden, whose elder line was dying out,
and Baden was confronted with the
danger of dismemberment. The two chief
powers disputed about Mainz until the
town fell to Hesse-Darmstadt, but the
right of garrisoning the important federal
fortress fell to them both. Baden only
joined the Federation on July 26th, 18 15,
Wiirtemberg on September ist. Notwith-
standing the opposition of Austria and
Prussia permission was given to Russia,
Great Britain, and France to have am-
bassadors at Frankfort, while the Federa-
tion had no permanent representatives at
the foreign capitals. Many of the South
German courts regarded the foreign am-
bassadors as a support against the leading
German powers ; the secondary and petty
states were most afraid of Prussia.
Finally, on November 5th, i8i6, the
Austrian ambassador opened the meeting
of the Federation in Frankfort with a
speech transmitted by Metternich. On
all sides members were eager to move
resolutions, and Metternich warned them
against precipitation, the very last fault,
as it turned out, of which the Federal Diet
was likely to be guilty. On the question
of the domains of Electoral Hesse, with
regard to which many private persons
took the part of the elector, the Federation
sustained a complete defeat at his hands.
The question of the military organisation
of the Federation was very inadequately
solved. When the Barbary States in 1817
T,. ,. , extended their raids in
The Idea of 1x1 i i ,
_ „, ^ search of slaves and booty as
a German h leet r ^1x1^10 i
Abandoned ^^ North Sea, and
attacked merchantmen, the
Hanseatic towns lodged complaints before
the Federal Diet, but the matter ended in
words. The ambassador of Baden, recalling
the glorious past history of the Hansa, in
vain counselled the federal states to build
their own ships. The Federation remained
dependent on the favour of foreign mari-
time Powers ; the question of a German
fleet was dropped. Nor was more done
for trade and commerce ; the mutual
exchange of food-stuffs was still fettered
by a hundred restrictions.
How did the matter stand with the per-
formance of the article of the Act of
Federation, which promised diets to all
the federal states ?
Charles Augustus of Saxe- Weimar had
granted a constitution on May 5th, 1816,
and placed it under the guarantee of tht
Federation, which also guaranteed the
Mecklenburg constitution of 18 17. The
Federation generally refrained from inde-
pendent action, and omitted to put into
practice the inconvenient article empower-
ing them to sit in judgment on " the v/is-
dom of each federal government." Austria
and Prussia, like most of the federal
governments, rejoiced at this evasion ;
it mattered nothing to them that the
peoples were deceived and discontented.
The samiC evasion was adopted in the
case of Article XVHL, on the liberty
of the Press. The north of Germany,
which had hitherto lived apparently
undisturbed, and the south, which was
„^ ^ , . seething with the new constitu-
Ihe Feudal .• 1 -j 1 .
_ tional ideas, were somewhat
. ^\^^ abruptly divided on this point.
In Hanover the feudal system,
which had been very roughly handled by
Westphalian and French rulers, returned
cautiously and without undue haste out of
its lurking-place after the restoration of the
House of Guelph. In the General Landtag
the landed interest was enormously in the
preponderance. Count Miinster-Leden-
burg, who governed the new kingdom
4831
HARMSWORl'H HISTORY OF THE WORLD
from London, sided with the nobihty ; the
constitution imposed in 1814 rested on
the old feudal principles. The estates
solemnly announced on January 17th,
1815, the union of the old and new terri-
tories into one whole, and on December
7th, 181C), Hanover received a new con-
stitution on the dual-chamber system, and
with complete equality of rights for the
two chambers. The nobilit}^ and the
official class were predominant. There
was no trace of an organic development
of the commonwealth ; the nobility con-
ceded no reforms, and the people took little
interest in the proceedings of the chambers.
Charles insulted King George IV., and
challenged Miinster to a duel. Finally,
the Federal Diet intervened to end the
mismanagement, and everything grew ripe
for the revolution of 1830.
In the kingdom of Saxony, so reduced
in t'.'rritory and population, matters re-
turned to the old footing. Frederic Au-
gustus I. the Just maintained order in the
peculiar sense in which he understood the
word. Only quite untenable conditions
were reformed, otherwise the king and
the Minister, Count Einsiedel, considered
that the highest political wisdom was to
persevere in the old order of things.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE TOWN OF BREMERHAVEN, FOUNDED IN 1S27
The preponderance of the nobility was
less oppressive in Brunswick. George IV.
acted as guardian of the young duke,
Charles 11.^ and Count Miinster in London
conducted the affairs of state, with
the assistance of the Privy Council of
Brunswick, and promoted the material
interests of the state, and the country
received on April 25th in the " renewed
system of states " a suitable constitution.
Everything went on as was wished imtil
Charles, in October, 1823, himself assumed
the government and declared war on the
constitution. A regime of the most de-
spicable caprice and licence now began ;
■48.32
Industries and trade were fettered, and
there was a total absence of activity. The
officials were as narrow as the statesmen.
In the Federation Saxony always sided with
Austria, being full of hatred of Prussia ;
Saxony was only important in the develop-
ment of art. Even under King Anthony,
after May, 1827, everything remained in
the old position. Einsiedel's statesman-
ship was as powerful as before, and the
discontent among the people grew.
The two Mecklenburgs remained feudal
states, in which the middle class and the
peasants were of no account. Even the
organic constitution of 1817 for Schwerin
Charles II.
Frederic Augustus
William I.
REACTIONARY RULERS OF EUROPEAN STATES
Assuming the government of Brunswick in 1823, Charles II. declared war on the constitution, and a regime of the most
despicable caprice and licence went on until the Federal Diet intervened to end the mismanagement. Known as the Just,
Frederic Augustus I. of Saxony followed in the old order of things, and thus the country was stunted in its industries. King
of Wiirtemberg, William I. promised a liberal representative constitution, but did not fulfil his pledges ; he died in 1821.
made no alteration in the feudal power
prevailing since 1755 ; the knights were
still, as ever, supreme in the country. The
Sternberg Diet of i8ig led certainly to the
abolition of serfdom, but the position of
the peasants was not improved by this
measure. Emigration became more com-
mon ; trades and industries were stagnant.
Even Oldenbiu-g was content with " poli-
tical hibernation." Frankfort-on-Main
received a constitution on October i8th,
1816, and many obsolete customs were
abolished. In the Hansa towns^ on the
contrary, the old patriarchal conditions
were again in full force ; the council ruled
absolutely. Trade and commerce made
great advances, especially in Hamburg and
Bremen. The founding of Bremerhaven
by the burgomaster Johann Smidt, a
clever politician, opened fresh paths of
world commerce to Bremen.
The Elector William I., who had returned
to Hesse-Cassel, wished to bring every-
thing back to the footing of 1806, when he
left his countn^ ; he declared the ordin-
ances of " his administrator Jerome " not
to be binding on him, recognised the sale
of domains as little as the advancement
of Hessian officers, but wished to make the
fullest use of that part of the Westphalian
ordinances which brought him personal
advantage. He promised, indeed, a liberal
THE FAMOUS UNIVERSITY OF BONN, FOUNDED IN THE YEAR 1818 Photochron,.-
4833
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
representative constitution, but trifled
with the Landtag, and contented himself
with the promulgation of the unmeaning
family and national law of March 4th,
1817. When he died, unlamented, in
1821, the still more capricious and worth-
less regime of William II. began, which
was marked by debauchery, family quar-
rels, and public discontent.
the Grand ^^^ """^^'^ edifying was the state
n^, 'J^^ . of things in Hesse-Darmstadt,
Uuke Lewis , fi r- 1 ta 1 t •
where the drand Duke, Lewis
I., although by inclination attached to the
old regime, worked his best for reform, and
did not allow himself to, be driven to re-
action after the conference at Carlsbad. He
gave Hesse on December 17th (March i8th),
1820, a representative constitution, and was
an enlightened ruler, as is shown, among
other instances, by his acquiescence in the
efforts of Prussia toward a customs union.
The most unscrupulous among the
princes of the Rhenish Confederation,
Frederic of Wiirtemberg, readily noticed
the increasing discontent of his subjects,
and wished to meet it by the proclamation
of January nth, 1815, that ever since
1806 he had wished to give his country a
constitution and representation by estates ;
but when he read out his constitution to
the estates on May 15th, these promptly
rejected it. The excitement in the coun-
try increased amid constant appeals to
the " old and just right." Frederic died
in the middle of a dispute on October 30th,
1816. Under his son, William I., who was
both chivalrous and ambitious, a better
time dawned for Wiirtemberg. But the
estates offered such opposition to him that
the constitution was not formed until
September 25th, 181Q ; but the first diet of
1820-1821 was extremely amenable to the
government. William was very popular,
although his rule showed little liberalism.
Bavaria, after the dethronement of its
second creator, Napoleon, had recovered
the territory on the left bank of the Rhine,
- . . and formed out of it the
_ , Rhenish Palatinate, whose
Recovered , .• • j r ^
rr .. population remained tor a long
time as friendly to France as
Bavaria itself was hostile. " Father Max "
certainly did his best to amalgamate the
inhabitants of the Palatinate and Bavaria,
and his premier. Count Montgelas, effected
so many ])rofitable and wise changes for
this kingdom, which had increased to more
than thirteen hundred square German
miles, with four million souls, that much
4834
of the blame attached to this policy might
seem to be unjustified. His most danger-
ous opponents were the Crown Prince
Lewis, with his leaning towards roman-
ticism and his " Teutonic " sympathies
and hatred of France, and Field-Marshal
Count Wrede. While Montgelas wished not
to hear a .S3'llable about a new constitution,
the crown prince deliberately adopted a
constitutional policy, in order to prepare
the downfall of the hated Frenchman.
Montgelas' constitution of May ist, 1808,
had never properly seen the light. He
intended national representation to be
nothing but a sham. The crown prince
wished, in opposition to the Minister, that
Bavaria should be a constitutional state,
a model to the whole of Germany. Mont-
gelas was able to put a stop to the intended
creation of a constitution in 1814-1815,
while his scheme of an agreement with the
Curia was hindered by an increase in the
claims of the latter. He fell on February
2nd, 1817, a result to which the court at
Vienna contributed, and Bavaria spoke
only of his defects, without being in a
position to replace Montgelas' system by
another. The Concordat of
r- ^ .-fZ- r }\xnQ 5th, 1817. signified a
Constitution of -' / o
Bavaria
complete victory of the Curia,
and was intolerable in the
new state of Bavarian public opinion ; the
" kingdom of darkness " stood beside the
door. The Crown met the general dis-
content b}^ admitting into the constitution
some provisions guaranteeing the rights
of Protestants, and thus naturally fur-
nished materials for further negotiations
with the Curia. On May 26th, 1818,
Bavaria finally received its constitution ;
in spite of deficiencies and gaps it was full
of vitality, and is still in force, although
in the interval it has required to be altered
in many points.
Bavaria thus by the award of a liberal
constitution had anticipated Baden,
which was forced to grant a similar one in
order to influence public opinion in its
favour. Prospects of the Baden Rhenish-
Palatinate were opened up to Bavaria by
arrangements with Austria. The ruling
House of Zahringen, except for an ille-
gitimate line, was on the verge of extinc-
tion, and the Grand Duke Charles could
never make up his mind to declare the
counts of Hochberg legitimate. At the
urgent request of Stein and the Tsar
Alexander, his brother-in-law, Charles, had
already announced to Metternich and
THE REACTION IN CENTRAL EUROPE
Hardenberg in Menna on December ist,
1814, that he wished to introduce a repre-
sentative constitution in his dominions,
and so anticipated the Act of Federation.
Stein once more implored the distrustful
man, " whose indolence was boundless/' to
carr}' out his intention ; but every appeal
rebounded from him, and he once again
postponed the constitutional question.
The Bavarian craving for Baden terri-
tory became more and more threaten-
ing. A more vigorous spirit was felt in
the Baden Ministry after its reorganisa-
tion. At last, on October 4th, Charles,
by a family law, proclaimed the indivisi-
bility of the whole state and the rights of
the Hochberg line to the succession.
It was foreseen that Bavaria would not
submit tamely to this. German public
opinion, and even Russian influence were
brought to bear in favour of a constitution.
Baden was forced to try to anticipate
Bavaria in making this concession. Even
the Emperor Alexander opened the first
diet of his kingdom of Poland on . the
basis of the constitution of 1815, and took
the occasion to praise the blessing of
... liberal institutions. Then Ba-
. ®-'°'^"^8s varia got the start of Baden.
Q Tettenborn and Reitzenstein
^ represented to Charles that
Baden must make haste and create a still
more liberal constitution, which was finally
signed by Charles on August 22nd, 1818.
It was, according to Barnhagen, "the
most liberal of all German constitutions, the
richest in germs of life, the strongest in
energy." It entirely corresponded to the
charter of Louis XVIII. The ordinances
of October 4th, 1817. were also contained
in it and ratified afresh. The rejoicings
in Baden and liberal Germany at large
were unanimous. In Munich there was
intense bitterness. The Crown Prince
Lewis in particular did not desist from
trying to win the Baden Palatinate,
and we know now that even Lewis II.
in the year 1870 urged Bismarck to obtain
it for Bavaria. Baden ceded to Bavaria in
i8ig a portion of the district of Wertheim,
and received from Austria Hohengerold-
seck. The congress at Aix-la-Chapelle had
also pronounced in favour of Baden in 1818.
Nassau, before the rest of Germany, had
received, on September 2nd, 1814, a
constitution, for which Stein was partl^
responsible. But the estates were not
summoned until the work of reorganising
the duchj' was completed. Duke William
opened the assembly at la«^t on March 3rd,
1818, and a tedious dispute soon broke
out about the Crown lands and state
property. The ^linister of btate, Bieber-
stein, a particularist and reacti'onary of
the purest water, adopted Metternich's
views. In popular opinion the credit of
the first step was not given to Nassau,
y because it delaj^ed so long to
g"**^" ^ . take the second. If Metternich
the Diets looked towards Prussia, he saw
the king in his element, and
Hardenberg in continual strife with Hum-
boldt ; if he turned his e3'es to South
Germany, he beheld a motley scene,
which also gave him a hard problem to
solve. In Bavaria the first diet led to
such unpleasant scenes that the king con-
templated the repeal of the constitution.
In Baden, where Rotteck and Baron
Liebenstein were the leaders, a flood of
proposals was poured out against the
rule of the new Grand Duke, Lewis I. ;
the dispute became so bitter that Lewis,
on July 28th. 1819. prorogued the chambers.
In Nassau and in Hesse-Darmstadt there
was also much disorder in the diets.
The reaction saw all this with great
pleasure. It experienced a regular trivmiph
on March 23rd, 1819, through the bloody
deed of a student, Karl Ludwig Sand.
It had become a rooted idea in the limited
brain of this fanatic that the dramatist
and Russian privy councillor, August von
Kotzebue, was a Russian spy, the most
dangerous enemy of German freedom
and German academic life ; he therefore
stabbed him in Mannheim. While great
and general sympathy was extended to
Sand, the governments feared a con-
spiracy of the student associations where
Sand had studied.
Charles Augustus saw that men looked
askance at him. and his steps for the pre-
servation of academic liberty were unavail-
ing. Metternich possessed the power, and
made full use of it, being sure of the assent
,, . . . of the majority of German
Universities i. r n • j x
XI. u .1 J governments, of Russia, and ol
the Hotbeds 9, , t-. ^ ■ r t-
,, . . Great Britam; even from r ranee
of Intrigues . . ,
approval was showered upon
him. Frederic William III., being com-
pletely I'uled by Prince Wittgenstein and
Kaunitz, was more and more overwhelmed
with fear of revolution, and wished to abolish
everything which seemed open to suspicion.
The universities, the fairest ornaments
of Germany, were regarded by the rulers
as hotbeds of revolutionary intrigues ;
4835
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
they required to be freed from the danger.
The authorities of Austria and Prussia
thought this to be imperatively necessary,
and during the season for the waters at
Carlsbad they wished to agree upon the
measures. Haste was urgent, as it seemed,
for on July ist, 1819, Sand had already
found an imitator. Karl Loning, an apothe-
_ Gary's apprentice, attempted
-, '°^ to assassinate at Schwalbach
PrTssir ^^^^ ^°^ ^^^^^' ^^^® president
of the Nassau Government,
whom, in spite of his liberal and excellent
administration, the crackbrained Radicals
loudly proclaimed to be a reactionary. The
would-be assassin committed suicide after
his attempt had failed. In Prussia steps
were now taken to pay domiciliary visits,
confiscate papers, and make arrests. Jahn
was sent to a fortress, the papers of the
bookseller Reimer were put under seal,
Schleiermacher's sermons were subject to
police surveillance, the houses of Welcker
and Arndt in Bonn were carefully searched
and all writings carried off which the
bailiffs chose to take. Protests were futile.
Personal freedom had no longer any pro-
tection against the tyranny of the police.
The privacy of letters was constantly
infringed, and the Government issued falsi-
fied accounts of an intended revolution.
On July 29th Frederic William and
Metternich met at Toplitz. Metternich
strengthened the king's aversion to grant
a general constitution, and agitated against
Hardenberg's projected constitution. On
August ist the Contract of Toplitz was
agreed upon, which, though intended to
be kept secret, was to form the basis of the
Carlsbad conferences ; a censorship was
to be exercised over the Press and the uni-
versities, and Article 13 of the Act of
Federation was to be explained in a corre-
sponding sense. Metternich triumphed, for
even Hardenberg seemed to submit to him.
Metternich returned with justifiable self-
complacency to Carlsbad, where he found
« ». ... his selected body of diplo-
Metternich s , • , j li t t r
matists, and over the heads of
Reactionary
Measures
the Federal Diet he discussed
with the representatives of a
quarter of the governments, from August
6th to 31st, reactionary measures of the
most sweeping character. Gentz, the secre-
tary of the congress, drew up the minutes
on which the resolutions of Carlsbad were
mainly based. Metternich wished to grant
to the Federal Diet a stronger influence on
the legislation of the several states, and
4836
through it indirectly to guide the govern-
ments, unnoticed by the public. The inter-
pretation of Article 13 of the Act of
Federation Was deferred to ensuing con-
ferences at Vienna, and an agreement was
made first of all on four main points. A
very stringent press law for five years
was to be enforced in the case of all papers
appearing daily or in numbers, and of
pamphlets containing less than twenty
pages of printed matter ; and every federal
state should be allowed to increase the
stringency of the law at its own discretion.
The universities were placed under the
strict supervision of commissioners ap-
pointed by the sovereigns ; dangerous
professors were to be deprived of their
office, all secret societies and the universal
student associations were to be prohibited,
and no member of them should hold a
public post. It was enacted that a central
commission, to which members were sent
by Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Hanover,
Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Nassau,
should assemble at Mainz to investigate the
treasonable revolutionary societies wliich
had been discovered ; but, by the distinct
^, _, _. declaration of Austria, such
Ihe 1 e Ueum , i j i
. . commission should have no
_ .. . judicial power. A preliminary
Reactionaries ■• ,• ^ , / , . /
executive order, to terminate
after August, 1820, was intended to secure
the carrying out of the resolutions of the
Federation for the maintenance of internal
tranquillity, and in given cases mihtary
force might be employed to effect it.
On September ist the Carlsbad con-
ferences ended, and the party of reaction
sang their Te Deum. Austria appeared to
be the all-powerful ruler of Germany. " A
new era is dawning," Metternich wrote to
London. The Federal Diet accepted the
Carlsbad resolutions with unusual haste
on September 20th, and they were pro-
claimed in all the federal states. Austria
had stolen a march over the others, and
the Federal Council expressed its most
humble thanks to Francis therefor. All
free-thinkers saw in the Carlsbad resolu-
tions not merely a check on all freedom and
independence, but also a disgrace ; nev^er-
theless, the governments, in spite of the
indignation of men like Stein, Rotteck,
Niebuhr, Dahlmann, Ludwig Borne, and
others, carried them out in all their harsh-
ness. The central commission of inquiry
hunted through the Federation in search
of conspiracies, and, as its own reports
acknowledge, found nothing of importance,
THE REACTION IN CENTRAL EUROPE
but unscrupvilously interfered with the life
of the nation and the individual. Foreign
countries did not check this policy,
although many statesmen, Capodistrias at
their head, disapproved of the reaction.
The Students' Association was officially
dissolved on November 26th, 18 19, but
was immediately reconstituted in secret.
There was no demagogism in Austria ;
Prussia was satisfied to comply with the
wishes of the court of Vienna, and even
Hardenberg was
prepared for any
step which Met-
t e r n i c h pre-
scribed. Every
suspected per-
son was re-
garded in Berlin
as an imported
conspirator.
The edict of
censorship of
1819, dating
from the day
of liberation,
October i8th,
breathed the
unholy s])irit
of W o 1 1 n e r ;
foreign journals
were strictly
supervised. The
reac t i on was
nowhere more
irreconcilable
than in Prussia,
wliere nothing
recalled the say-
ing of Frederic
the Great, that
every man
might be happy
after his own
fashion. The
gymnasia were
as relentlessly
persecuted as
the intellectual
exercises of university training ; nothing
could be more detestable than the way in
which men like Arndt, Gneisenau, and
Jahn were made to run the gauntlet,
or a patriot like Justus Gruner was
ill-treated on his very deathbed, or
the residence of Gorres in Germany ren-
dered intolerable. This tendency obviously
crippled the fulfilment of the royal promise
of a constitution — a promise in which
Humboldt
Frederic William had never been serious.
Hardenberg and Humboldt were per-
petually quarrelling ; Humboldt attacked
the exaggerated power of the chancellor,
who was not competent for his post ;
Hardenberg laid a new plan of a constitu-
tion before the king on August nth, 1819.
The king, in this dispute, took the side of
Hardenberg, and the dismissal of Boyen
and Grolman was followed, on December
31st, 1819, by that of Humboldt and
Count Beyme.
Metternich re-
joiced ; Hum-
boldt, the
"thoroughly
bad man," was
put on one side
and thence-
forth lived for
science.
Hardenberg's
position was
once more
strengthened ;
his chief object
was to carry the
revenue and fin-
ance laws. On
January 17th,
1820, the ordi-
nance as to the
condition of the
national debt
was issued, from
which the
Liberals re-
ceived the
comforting as-
surance that the
Crown would
not be able to
raise new loans
except under
Eichhorn
A GROUP OF DISTINGUISHED GERMANS the joiut
Entering the service of Prussia in 178(1, Baron von Stein worked for pro- guarantee Ot
gress and laid the foundations of Prussia's subsequent greatness. +]-,p nroOO^ed
Rotteck, a professor at Freiburg, was eminent as a historian and publicist ; r r
famous as a naturalist and traveller, Humboldt explored unknown assembly of the
lands, while Eichhorn was a prominent Prussian statesman and jurist. , 4.0c. ^r>A
est ares, ano
that the trustees of the debt would furnish
the assembly with an annual statement of
accounts. Shipping companies and banks
were remodelled ; the capital account
was to be published every three years.
Hardenberg then brought his revenue
laws to the front, and in spite of many
difficulties these laws, which, though
admittedly imperfect, still demanded
attention, were passed on May 20th, 1820.
4837
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Ideal
of Union
In accordance with the agreement made
in Carlsbad, the representatives of the
inner federal assembly met in Vienna, and
deliberated from November 25th, 181Q.
to May 24th. 1820, over the head of the
Federal Diet ; the result, the final act of
Vienna of May 15th, 1820, obtained the
same validity as the Federal Act of 1815.
„ . In the plenary assembly of June
8th. 1820, the Federal JDiet pro-
moted it to be a fundamental
law of the Federation. Particu-
larism and reaction had scored a success,
and the efficiency of the Federal Diet was
once more crippled. The nation was
universally disappointed by the new-
fundamental law, which realised not one
of its expectations ; but Metternich
basked in the rays of success.
The question of free intercourse between
the federal states had also been discussed
in Vienna, and turned men's looks to
Prussia's efforts towards a customs union.
The Customs Act of May 26th, 181 8, was
unmercifully attacked ; it was threatened
with repeal at the Congress of Aix-la-
Chapelle, but weathered the storm, and
found protection from Johann Friedrich
Eichhorn. In the field of material interests
Eichhorn had a free hand ; he was a hero
of unobtrusive work, who with inde-
fatigable patience went towards his goal —
the union of the German states to Prussia
hy the bond of their own interests. In
1819 he invited the Thuringian states,
which formed enclaves in Prussia, to a
tariff union, and on October 25th in that
year the first treaty for accession to the
tariff union was signed with Schwarzburg-
Sondershausen ; since this was extremely
advantageous to the pett}^ state, it
served as a model to all further treaties
with Prussian enclaves.
The German Commercial and Industrial
Association of the traders of Central and
Southern Germany was founded in Frank-
fort during the April Fair of i8ig, under
^. -, , the presidency of Professor
I he Oeneral -r-, ■ f • i y • T x t---i_-
^ . , rnednch List of Tubmsren.
Commercial ^, • i r ,i °-
. ... Ihe memorial of the associa-
Association , . , , .. .
tion, drawn up by List and
presented to the diet, pictured as its
ultimate aim the universal freedom of
commercial intercouise between every
nation ; it called for the abolition of the
inland tolls and existing federal tolls on
foreign trade, but was rejected. List now
attacked the several governments, scourged
in his journal the faults of German
4838
commercial policy, was an opponent of the
Prussian Customs Act, and always recurred
to federal tolls. Far clearer were the
economic views of the Baden statesman
Karl Friedrich Nebenius, whose pamphlet
was laid before the Vienna conferences.
He too attacked the Prussian Customs Act :
but his pamphlet, in spite of all its merits,
had no influence on the development of the
tariff union. Johann Friedrich Benzenberg
alone of the well-known journalists of the
day spoke for Prussia. Indeed, the hos-
tility to Prussia gave rise to the abortive
separate federation of Southern and
Central Germany, formed at Darmstadt in
1820. Such plans were foredoomed to
failure. All rival tariff unions failed in the
same way.
Hardenberg's influence over Frederic
William III. had been extinguished by
Metternich, and the Chancellor of State
was politically dead, even before he closed
his eyes, on November 26th, 1822. A
new constitution commission under the
presidency of the Crown Prince Frederic
William (IV.), who was steeped in roman-
ticism, consisted entirely of Hardenberg's
opponents, and would only be
.*.*'* content with charters for the
T^'**" h several provinces. The king
consented to them. After
Hardenberg's death the king could not
consent to summon Wilhelm von Hum-
boldt, but abolished the presidency in the
Cabinet. The king contented himself
with the law of June 5th, 1823, as to the
regulation of provincial estates.
Bureaucracy and feudalism celebrated
a joint victory in this respect. Austria
could be contented with Prussia's aversion
to constitutional forms, and, supported
by it, guided the Federal Diet, in which
Wiirtemberg, owing to the frankness
and independence of its representative,
Wangenheim. now and again broke
from the trodden path. Wangenheim
suggested the plan of confronting the great
German powers with a league " of pure
and constitutional Germany," under the
leadership of Bavaria and Wiirtemberg,
pioposing to create a triple alliance. But
the Menna conferences of Januarj-, 1823,
arranged by Metternich, soon led to
Wiirtemberg's compliance. Wangenheim
fell in July. The Carlsbad resolutions
were renewed in August, 1824, and the
Federal Diet did not agitate again, after it
had quietly divided the unhapp}' Central
Enquiry Commission at Mainz in 1828.
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE
AFTER
WATERLOO
IV
THE RESTORED FRENCH MONARCHY
REACTION TRIUMPHANT IN THE LATIN STATES
TTHE restored Bourbon monarch of
•■• France found himself in an exceedingly
difficult position. At his first restoration
in 1814, he had been disposed to maintain
the attitude of absolutism, and had con-
sented to grant a constitution in the form
of a concession bestowed by the benevo-
lence of the Crown. This "Charta" had
estabhshed two Chambers — .one of peers,
nominated by the Crown, the other of
representatives elected under a high
franchise. But the Royalists even then
had shown a zeal which Louis had not
restrained for the recovery of old rights
and of the old supremacy. The masses
of the people had thereby been alienated.
Louis recognised his error, and was now
determined to abide by his constitution ;
but the Royalists saw only that their side
was uppermost. Like the English Cavaliers
when Charles IL came back to " enjoy
his own again," they hoped to get back all
that they had lost with interest.
ims o j^^^^ ^j_^^ English Cavaliers
the French °
Royalists
had learnt very promptly to
recognise that the old order
had gone never to return ; the French
Royalists were not equally capable of
reconciling themselves to that doctrine.
More royalist than the king, they made
haste to seek to impose their views upon
him. Socially, the democratising of France
had not been swept away under the
Empire, though it had been so politically.
The political centralisation of the Empire
was only modified by the Charta ; but
the Royalists aimed at reversing the social
democratisation as well. Their head-
quarters were naturally established in the
entourage of Artois, the king's brother,
and the circle became known from his
residence as the Pavilion Marsan.
Louis, both from calculation and from
grasp of the situation, held fast to his con-
stitution, and was involved in continued
conflict with his brother and the Royalists
" quand meme," the party of no com-
promise. He had promised an amnesty,
but he did not succeed in checking the
" White Terror," the outbreak of royalist
violence in Southern France. In Mar-
seilles, Avignon, Nismes, Toulouse, and
other places disorders broke out, in
which religious fanaticism also played
its part. Bonapartists and Protestants
Th "Wh't "^^^^ murdered wholesale,
_, ,, ' among them Marshal Brune,
- Generals Lagarde and Ramel ;
courts and local authorities
were powerless to check the outrages.
Fouche drew up the proscription-lists
against those who were privy, or sus-
pected of being privy, to the Hundred
Days, but prudently forgot to put himself
at the head of the list ; and while the
executions of General La Bedoyere and
Marshal Ney, accompanied by the horrors
in Lyons and Grenoble, were bound to
make the position of the king impossible,
and while the foremost men of France were
driven out of the country, he was conspir-
ing with the Duke of Orleans, being also
anxious to overthrow Talleyrand.
Fouche was attacked, nevertheless,
on all sides, was compelled to resign
the Ministry of Police in September,
1815, and was expelled, in 1816, as a
relapsed regicide. His dismissal was
followed closely by that of his rival,
Talleyrand, who was appointed High
Chamberlain, and replaced, to the satis-
faction, and indeed at the wish, of Russia,
by the former governor-general in Odessa,
the Duke of Richelieu, an emigre quite
unacquainted with French affairs. Louis,
who could not exist without
Favourites favourites, had given his heart
of the °
French King
to the former secretary of
Madame Mere, Decazes. As
Fouche's successor, he sided with the
Pavilion Marsan, passed sundry capri-
cious and arbitrary measures to main-
tain order, but was still far too mild
for the ultra-Royalists, who exercised a
sort of secondary government, and piro-
cured Talleyrand's help against him.
4839
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
The King
Dissolves the
The violence of this extreme section had
found its warrant in the first election to
the Chamber of Deputies in which it had
effected an electioneering victory. But
when the Pavilion Marsan and the deputies
wished to cap the repressive measures of
Decazes by making a farce of the very neces-
sary amnesty for their political opponents,
Louis found it necessary to
dissolve the Chambers, and
^, . the Royalist successes were
Chambers , -^ , ^ . ^^
not repeated at the new
election. The majority were supporters
of the moderate Richelieu, while Decazes
was, comparatively speaking, a progressive.
The new Chambers passed the Electoral
Law of 1817, which secured power to the
middle-class, in whom the ultra-Royalists
saw their strongest opponents, and the prin-
ciple adopted, that one-fifth of the deputies
should retire annually, in fact assured an
annual increase in what may be called the
existing Liberal majority. The Royalists
then turned their efforts to procuring a
very much lower franchise, in the belief
that the peasantry would be much more
amenable to the influence of clericals and
landowners than the now dominant classes.
Richelieu soon found himself alarmed
by what appeared to be the revival of
the revolutionary spirit, emphasised _ at
the elections of 1818 by the appearance
among the new deputies of Lafayette and
Benjamin Constant. His position seemed
strengthened by the success of France at
the Conference of Aix-la-Chapelle, where
he represented her in person and procured
the immediate withdrawal of the allied
garrisons. Nevertheless, his representa-
tions that the electoral law must be modi-
fied to check the democratic movement
failed to convince the king, and Richelieu
retired in December, 1818.
The Ministry of Dessoles, which now
took the lead, was dominated by Riche-
lieu's rival, Decazes, who became Minister
of the Interior. An arrangement was.
E t d d effected with the Curia on
Liberties ^^^S^st 23rd, 1819. Freedom
. p of the Press was encouraged,
and the extraordinary laws
against the liberty of the subject were
repealed. The Ministry, however, at one
time inclined to the Constitutionalists, at
another to the ultra-Royalists, and thus
forfeited the confidence of all. and depended
on the personal and vacillating policy of
the king, while the intensity of party
feeling was increased. Even a great
4840
batch of new peers in March, 1819, did not
give the Crown the hoped-for parliamen-
tary support. An alteration of the elec-
toral law seemed imperative ; it was
essential to show fight against the Left.
On November 20th, 1819, the country
learnt that Dessoles was dismissed and
Decazes had become first Minister. The
vacillating policy of Decazes quickly
estranged all parties, and they only
waited for an opportunit}'' to get rid of
him. On February 13th, 1820, the king's
nephew, Charles Ferdinand, Duke of
Berry, the only direct descendant of
Louis XV. from whom children could be
expected, was stabbed at the opera, and
the ultras dared to utter the lie that
Decazes was the accomplice of Louvel the
murderer. The royal family implored the
king to dismiss his favourite, and Louis
dismissed Decazes on February 21st, 1820.
Richelieu became first Minister once
more. Decazes went to London as
ambassador, and received the title of
duke. This compulsory change of minis-
ters seemed to the king like his own
abdication. Exceptional legislation
against personal freedom was indeed
necessary, but it increased the
bitterness of the Radicals, who
Renewed
Bloodshed
. p . were already furious at the men-
ace of the Electoral Law of 1817.
Matters came to bloodshed in Paris in
June, 1820 ; the Right, however, carried
the introduction of a new electoral law.
The abandonment of France to the noisy
emancipationists standing on the extreme
Left was happily diverted. Richelieu admin-
istered the country in a strictly monarchical
spirit, but never became the man of the
ultra-Royalists of the Pavilion Marsan.
The disturbed condition of the Iberian
Peninsula gave the leaders of the reaction
a new justification for their policy and a
new opportunity of applying it. Fer-
dinand VII., the king so intensely desired
by the Spaniards, had soon shown himself
a mean despot, whose whole government
was marked by depravity and faithlessness,
by falsehood and distrust. He abolished
in May, 1814, the constitution of 1812,
which was steeped in the spirit of the
French Constituent Assembly, dismissed
the Cortes, and with a despicable party or
camarilla of favourites and courtiers
persecuted all liberals and all adherents of
Joseph Bonaparte. He restored all the
monasteries, brought back the Inquisition
and the Jesuits, and scared Spain once
REACTION TRIUMPHANT IN THE LATIN STATES
more into the deep darkness of the Middle
Ages ; he destroyed all benefits of govern-
ment and the administration of justice,
filled the prisons with innocent men, and
revelled with guilty associates. Trade
and commeice were at a standstill, and in
spite of all the pressure of taxation the
treasury remained empty. The Ministries
and high officials continually changed
according to the caprice of the sovereign,
and there was no ^-iretcnce at pursuing a
the influence of the Powers, particularly
of Russia, Ferdinand was rudely awakened
from the indolence into which he had fallen.
Better days seemed to be dawning for Spain ;
but the reforming mood soon passed away.
Regiments intended to be employed
against the rising in South America had
been assembled at Cadiz, but at this
centre a conspiracy against the Govern-
ment in Madrid broke out. On New
Year's Day, 1820, the colonel of the regi-
LOUIS XVIII. OF FRANCE DRAWING UP THE "CHARTA" AT ST. GUEN IN 1814
systematic policy. Such evils led to the
rebellions of discontented and ambitious
generals, such as Xaverio Mina, who paid
the penalty of failure on the scaffold or
at the gallows. Even the loyalty of the
South American colonies wavered ; they
were evidently contemplating defection
from the mother country, in spite of all
counter measures; and the rising world
power of the United States of North
America was greatly strengthened. By
ment of Asturia, RiegO; proclaimed in
Las Cabezas de San Juan on the Isla de
Leon the constitution of 1812, arrested at
Arcos the commander-in-chief of the ex-
peditionary force together with his staff,
drove out the magistrates, and joined
Colonel Antonio Quiroga, who now was
at the head of the undertaking. The
attempt to capture Cadiz failed ; Riego's
march through Andalusia turned out
disastrously, and he was forced on March
4841
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
iith to disband his followers at Bien-
venida. Quiroga also achieved nothing.
But the cry for the constitution of 1812
found a responsive echo in Madrid.
Galicia, Asturia, Cantabria, and Aragon
revolted. The royal government com-
pletely lost heart, since it had too evil a
conscience. The king, always a coward,
capitulated with undignified
eac ion alacrity, declared himself ready
. "^'g ™? *'' to gratify " the universal wish
of the people," and on
March 9th took a provisional oath of
adherence to the constitution of 181 2.
The whole kingdom was at the mercy
of the unruly and triumphant Left. It
was headed by Quiroga and Riego, and
the Government was obliged to confer upon
both these mutineers the rank of field-
marshal. Quiroga was the more moderate
of the two, and as Vice-president of the
Cortes, which met on July 9th, endea-
voured to organise a middle party. Riego
preferred the favour of the mob ; at
Madrid he received a wild ovation,
August 30th to September 6th, and
a hymn composed in his honour and
called by his name was in everybody's
mouth. Although his arrogance produced
a temporary reaction, the party which he
led was in the end triumphant. As cap-
tain-general of Galicia and Aragon, Riego
became master of the situation, and the
Court was exposed to fresh humiliations.
The spirit of discontent had also
seized Portugal, where the reorganiser of
the army, Field-Marshal Lord Beresford,
conducted the government for King" John
VL, who was absent in Brazil. A national
conspiracy against the British was quickly
suppressed in 1817 ; but the feeling of
indignation smouldered, and when Beres-
ford himself went to Rio Janeiro for
commands, secret societies employed his
absence to stir up fresh sedition. The
rebellion broke out on August 24th, 1820,
under Colonel Sepulveda and Count
p Silveira in Oporto, and Lisbon
or uga s fQ|iQ^.g(j g^j^ Q^ September
spirit of , , n^^ ■ j_ ■ ,-, , ^ ■
jj. 15th. the juntas mstitutedm
both places amalgamated into
one provisional government on October ist,
and when Beresford returned on October
loth, he was not allowed to land. The
Cortes of 1821 drew up, on March 9th, the
preliminary sketch of a constitution which
limited the power of the Crown, as it had
already been limited in Spain. All the
authorities swore to it ; Count Pedro
4842
Palmella, the foremost statesman of the
kingdom, advised John VL to do the same.
Jolm appeared in Lisl)on, left his eldest
son Dom Pedro behind as regent in Brazil,
and swore to the principles of the consti-
tution on July 3rd, 1821.
In Italy, m-anwhile, there was a strong
movement on foot in favour of republi-
canism and union. But few placed their
hopes on Piedmont itself, for King Victor
Emmanuel I. was a bigoted, narrow-
minded ruler, who sanctioned the most
foolish retrogressive policy, and, like
William I. at Cassel, declared everything
that had occurred since 1789 to be simply
null and void. There was no prospect of
freedom and a constitution while he con-
tinued to reign. His prospective successor,
Charles Felix, was as little of a Liberal as
himself. The nobility and the clergy alone
felt themselves happy. The hopes of better
days could only be associated with the
head of the indirect line of Carignan,
Charles Albert, who in Piedmont and
Sardinia played the role of the Duke of
Orleans in France, and represented the
future of Italy for many patriots even
beyond the frontiers of Piedmont. In
Modena, Duke Francis IV. of
the Austrian house did away
Peaceful
Rule of Duke
Ferdinand
with the institutions of the
revolutionary period and
brought back the old regime. The Society
of Jesus stood at the helm. Modena, on
account of the universal discontent,
became a hotbed of secret societies.
In the papal states the position was the
same . as in Modena ; it was hardly better
in Lucca, or in Parma, where Napoleon's
wife, the Empress Marie Louise, held sway.
InTuscany, the Grand Duke Ferdinand III.
reigned without any spirit of revenge ; he
was an enemy of the reaction, although
often disadvantageously influenced from
Vienna. The peace and security which his
rule assured to Tuscany promoted the
growth of intellectual and material culture.
His was the best administered state in the
whole of Italy ; and when he died, in 1824,
his place was taken by his son Leopold II.,
who continued to govern on the same
lines and with the same happy results.
Pius VII. and his great Secretary of
State, Cardinal Consalvi, had indeed the
best intentions when the States of the
Church were revived ; but the upas-tree of
the hierarchy blighted all prosperity. Not
a vestige remained of the modern civilised
lay state, especially after Consalvi was
REACTION TRIUMPHANT IN THE LATIN STATES
removed and Leo XII., 1823-1829,
assumed the reins of government. Secret
societies and conspiracies budded, and
brigandage took a fresh lease of hfe. The
secret society of the Carbonari, having
become too large for Neapolitan soil — 1808
—maintained re-
lations with the
Freemasons, who
had influence in
the Italian dis-
putes, and with
Queen Mary
Caroline of
Naples. Later,
the Government
vainly tried to
suppress the
Carbonari, who,
though degraded
by the admission
of the most no-
torious criminals
was powerless against them. The ne.vly
revived citizen militia was immediately
infected by the Carbonari, which tempted
it with the charm of a " conscitution."
Gughelmo Pepe, an ambitious general,
but fickle character, became the soul ot
the Carbonari in
theSicilianarmy,
and gave them a
considerable de-
gree of military
efficiency. He
contemplated in
1819 the arrest
of the king, the
Emperor and
Empress of Aus-
tria, and Met-
ternich, at a
review. The
plan was not
executed, but the
spell of the
THE DUKE OF RICHELIEU AND DECAZES
The Duke of Richelieu, an emigre and formerly g-overnor-general at
Inrl o-oinprl dhnlH Odessa, was appointed to succeed Talleyrand as High Chamberlain Qi^oniQh insnr-
liaa gainea anoia though he was quite unacauainted with French affairs, while Dccazes, '^P'il"^'" ^"^Ui
on every stratum who supported the Bourbon restoration, became a great favourite of rCCtlOU and the
- -^ the king. He was dismissed in 1S20, and went to London as ambassador. „p^ COnstitutioU
of society
The misgovernment of Naples and Sicily
gave a plausible excuse for revolutionary
agitation. King Ferdinand IV., a phleg-
matic old man, full of cunning and trea-
chery, licentiousness and cruelty, had not
fulfilled one of the promises which he had
given on his return to the
throne, but had, on the con-
trary, secretly promised the
Court of Vienna that he would
not- grant his country a con-
stitution until Austria set
him the example. On Dec-
ember nth, 1816, he united
his states into the " Kingdom
of the Two Sicilies," and
assumed the title of Ferdinand
I. ; and, although he left in
existence many useful reforms
which had been introduced
during the French period, he
bitterly disappointed his
Sicilian subjects by abolishing
ensnared him and his partisans. On July
2nd, 1820, two sub-lieutenants raised the
standard of revolt at Nola, and talked
foohshly about the Spanish constitution,
which was totally unknown to them. On
the 3rd this was proclaimed in Avellino.
. Pepe assumed the lead of the
movement, which spread far
and wide, and marched upon
Naples. The Ministry changed.
Ferdinand placed the govern-
ment temporarily in the hands
of his son Francis, who was
detested as the head of the
Calderari, and the latter
accepted the Spanish consti-
tution on July 7th, a policy
which Ferdinand confirmed.
On the 9th, Pepe entered
Naples in triumph, with
soldiers and militia ; and
Ferdinand, with tears in his
eyes, took the oath to the
A LEADER OF REVOLT
Riego was at the head of the Madrid
the constitution which Lord ri^'ng of if ^ : his march through constitution on the 13th, in
iiiv^ <^wii.oi.j.i.Lii,iwii vvlll^-ll A^KjLyu. Aij(jalusia tumcd out disastrously, -^
Bentinck had given them in and he disbanded his followers. He
1812. The police and the ""^ •^""^^'' ^' "^'^"^ '" ''''■
judicial system were deplorably bad ;
the Minister of Police was the worst
robber of all, and the head of the Cal-
derari, a rival reactionary society. The
army was neglected. Secret societies and
bands of robbers vied with each other in
harassing the country, and the Government
the palace chapel. The
Bourbons began to wear the
colours of the Carbonari. Pepe, as
commander-in-chief and captain-general
of the kingdom, was now supreme ; but
Ferdinand hastened to assure the indig-
nant Metternich that all his oaths and
promises had been taken under com-
pulsion and were not seriously meant.
4843
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Sicily no longer wished to be treated as
a dependency of Naples, and claimed to
receive back the constitution of 1812.
Messina revolted, and Palermo followed
the example on July 14th ; on the i8th
there was fighting in the streets of Palermo.
The governor, Naselli, fled, and the mob
ruled ; immediately afterwards a provisional
government was installed. The
,. *^_ ° independent action of Sicily
the Governor ^ j . j- . . ■"
p, ... aroused great discontent m
Naples. General Florestan
Pepe was despatched to Sicily with an
army, and he soon made himself master of
the island. But the Crown repudiated the
treaty concluded by him with the rebels
on October 5th, and sacrificed Pepe to
the clamour of the Neapolitan Parliament ;
the gulf between the two parts of the
kingdom became wider. Met-
ternich had been unmoved by
the tidings of the Spanish
agitation, but he was only
the more enraged when he
heard what had occurred in
the Two Sicilies. He put all
blame on the secret societies,
and praised the good in-
tentions of Ferdinand's
" paternal " government.
The insurrection in Spain
had made such an impression
on Alexander that in a cir-
cular of May 2nd, 1820, he
invoked the spirit of the
Holy Alliance, and emphasised
the danger of illegal constitu-
tions. Metternich strength-
ened the Austrian forces in
Upper Italy, and stated, in a circular to
the Italian courts, that Austria, by the
treaties of 18 15, was the appointed guar-
dian of the peace of Italy, and wished for
an immediate armed interference in the
affairs of Naples ; but he encountered
strong opposition in Paris and in St.
Petersburg. Alexander, whom Metternich
actually suspected of Carbonarism, advised
a conference of sovereigns and Ministers ;
the conference met on October 20th,
1820, at Troppau. Alexander brought with
him Capodistrias, an enemy of Metternich ;
Francis I. brought Metternich and Gentz ;
Frederic William III. was accompanied by
Hardenberg and Count Giinther von Bern-
storff ; the Count de la Ferronays appeared
on behalf of Louis XVIII. ; and Lord
Stewart . represented the faint-hearted
pjlicy of his brother Castlereagh, which
4844
JOHN VI OF PORTUGAL
After acting as reg-ent for his
mother, he succeeded to the throne ;
a rebellion broke out in ISiO, and
the king agreed to a constitution
limiting the power of the Crown.
was condemned by the British nation. It
was Metternich's primary object that the
congress should approve the march of an
Austrian army into Naples, and he induced
the congress to invite Ferdinand to
Troppau. Alexander always clung closer
to the wisdom of Metternich, and the latter
skilfully used the report of a mutiny among
the Semenoff guards as an argument to
overcome the Liberalism of the tsar.
Alexander saw before his own eyes how
the Spanish and Italian military revolts
excited imitation in the Russian army.
Frederic William was equally conciliatory
to Metternich, and was more averse than
ever to granting a constitution on the
model of Hardenberg's schemes. In the
protocol of November 19th, Austria,
Prussia, and Russia came to an agreement,
behind the back of the two
Western Powers, as to the
position which they would
adopt towards revolutions,
and as to the maintenance
of social order ; but France
and Great Britain rejected the
idea of changing the principles
of international law. Fer-
dinand took fresh oaths to his
people and set out for Troppau.
After Christmas the con-
gress closed at Troppau, but
was continued in January,
1821, at Laibach. ^ Most of
the Italian governments were
represented. Metternich again
took over the presidency.
Ferdinand was at once ready
to break his word, and
declared that his concessions were extorted
from him. The King of France at first
hesitated. A miracle seemed to have been
performed on behalf of the French Bour-
bons : the widow of Berry gave birth, on
September 29th, 1820, to a son, the Duke
Henry of Bordeaux, who usually appeared
later under the name of Count of Cham-
bord.- The legitimists shouted
for joy, talked of the miracu-
lous child who would console
his mother for the death of
Hector. " the stem of Jesse when nearly
withered had put forth a fresh branch." The
child was baptised with water which Chat-
eaubriand had drawn from the Jordan. The
Spanish Bourbons looked askance at the
b'rth : they were already speculating on the
f iiture succession to the throne. and the Duke
of Orleans secretly suggested in the English
The "Mir'clj
of the French
Bourbons
REACTION TRIUMPHANT IN THE LATIN STATES
Press suspicious of the legitimacy of the
child. Louis successively repressed several
military revolts, but had constantly to
Scruggle with the claims of the ultras, who
embittered his reign. Although in his
heart opposed to it, he nevertheless as-
sented at Laibach to the programme of
the Eastern Powers.
Austria sent an army under
Frimont over the Po, and
ujAeld the fundamental idea
of a constitution for the Two
Sicilies. Ferdinand agreed to
everything which Metternich
arranged. France did not,
indeed, at first consent to
that armed interference with
Spain which Alexander and
Metternich required. On Feb-
ruary 26th, 1821, the deli-
berations of the congress
terminated. The Neapolitan
Parliament, it is true, defied
the threats of the Eastern
Powers, and declared that
Ferdinand was their prisoner,
and that therefore his resolu-
tions were not voluntary,
preparations for resistance were so de-
fective that the Austrians had an easy
task. The Neapolitan army broke up
after the defeat of Guglielmo Pepe at Rieti
on March 7th, 1821, and on March 24th
Frimont's army marched int( ■
Naples with sprigs of olive 111
their helmets. Pepe fled ti>
Spain. In Naples the re-
action perpetrated such ex-
cesses that the Powers inter-
vened ; the victims were
countless, while the Austrians
maintained order.
In Piedmont the revolu-
tion broke out on March
loth, 1821 ; Charles Albert
of Carignan did not keep
aloof from it. The tricolour
flag, red, white, and green, of
the Kingdom of Italy was
hoisted in Alessandria, and a
arrival, accepted, contrary to his inward
conviction, the new constitution, and swore
to it on March 15th. Charles Felix, how-
ever, considered every administrative
measure null and void which had not
emanated from himself. Charles Albert
was panic-stricken, resigned the regency,
and left the country. Alex-
ander and Metternich agreed
that there was need of armed
intervention in Piedmont.
Austria feared also the corrup-
tion of her Italian provinces,
and kept a careful watch upon
those friends of freedom who
had not yet been arrested.
At Novara, on April 8th, the
Imperialists under Marshal
Bubna, won a victory over
the Piedmontese insurgents,
which was no less decisive
than that of Rieti had been in
Naples. Piedmont was occu-
King of Sardinia from 1^ 1 4, he was pied by the imperial army ; the
a bigoted, narrow-minded ruler. • > • i i ir- j_
His retrogressive policy led to a JUUta resigned, and VlCtOF
rising in 1821 and he abdicated in Emmanuel renewed his abdica-
favour of his brother Charles Pelix. j. a -i .i -kt-
tion on April 19th, at Nice.
Charles Felix then first assumed the royal
title and decreed a criminal inquiry. On
October i8th he made his entry into Turin
amid the mad rejoicings of the infatuated
mob, suppressed every sort of political
and ruled in death-like quiet, being
supported by the bayonets
of Austria and by the do-
minion of the Jesuits in
Church, school, and State.
The Austrians did not leave
his country until 1823. ^^
May I2th, 1821, a proclama-
tion issued from Laibach by
the Eastern Powers announced
«K9*j3 to the world that they had
rescued Europe from the
intended general revolution,
and that their weapons alone
served to uphold the cause
of right and justice.
Metternich, promoted by
the emperor to the office of
VICTOR EMMANUEL
But their
]varty
GUGLIELMO PEPE
An ambitious general, but fickle
provisional junta on the t^h'e cfrbona.w 'n triicman ar'myf Chancellor of State, stood at
Spanish model was assembled, and in 1 820 he assumed supreme the zenith of his success when,
Turin proclaimed the parlia- ^°'"'' ^' commander-in-chief, on May 5th, 1821, Napoleon I.,
mentary constitution on March nth, and the man who had contested his importance
the Carbonari seized the power. Victor
Emmanuel I. abdicated on March 13th in
favour of his brother Charles Felix. Ckarles
Albert, a vacillating and untrustworthy
ruler, who was regent until the latter's
and had ruled the world far more than Met-
ternich, died at St. Helena. The black and
3'ellow flag waved from Milan to Palermo ;
princes and peoples bowed before it.
Legitimacy had curbed the revolutionary
4845
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
craving, and Italy was further from
unification than ever. The apostles of
freedom and unit}^ men like Silvio Pellico,
disappeared in the dungeons of the
Spielberg and other fortresses in Austria.
Russia was now on the most friendly
terms with Austria. The result was soon
seen when the monarchs and Adnisters, still
at Laibach, received tidings
of disorders in the Danubian
An Era of
Conspiracy
d A h pi'Jiicipalities and in Greece, and
^ the tsar, under Metternich's in-
fluence, repudiated the Greek leader, Ypsi-
lanti, who had built on the theory that he
could reckon on the warm support of Russia.
In Spain the Liberals made shameless
misuse of their victory, and limited the
power of the king to such a degree that he
naturally tried to effect a change. His
past was a guarantee that Ferdinand VII.
would not be at a loss for the means to
his end. He courted the intervention of
the Continent ; but Louis XVIII. and
Richelieu preferred neutrality. The ultra-
Royalists, however , became more and more
arrogant in France. The Pavilion Marsan
expelled Richelieu in December, 1821,
and brought in the Ministry of Vill le ;
the reaction felt itself fully victorious, and
the clergy raised their demands. The
Carbonari was introduced from Italy,
and secret societies were formed. New
conspiracies of republican or Napoleonic
tendency followed, and led to executions.
The power of the ultras became gradually
stronger in the struggle ; party feeling
increased, and even Count Vill ie was not
royalist enough for the ultras. Ferdi-
nand VII., on the contrary, favoured the
Radicals, in order to employ them against
the Liberals. Riego became President of
the Cortes of 1822. A coup de main of
the Guards to recover for Ferdinand the
absolute power failed in July, 1822, and
Ferdinand surrendered those who had sacri-
ficed themselves for him. In the north
guerrilla bands spread in every direction
_ . on his behalf; in Seo de Urgel
e ragic ^ i-egency for him was estab-
-, ., . lished on August 15th, and an
Castlereagh „. x j • I j^i
alliance entered mto with
France. At the preliminary deliberations
for the congress intended to be held at
Verona, Metternich reckoned upon his
" second self," Castlereagh, now the
Marquess of Londonderry ; but the latter
died by his own hand on August 12th, 1822.
His successor in the Foreign (JiS.ce, George
Canning, a " Tory from inward conviction,
4846
a modern statesman from national neces-
sit}'," broke with the absolutist-reactionary
principles of the Holy Alliance, and entered
the path of a national independent policy,
thus dealing a heavy blow at Metternich
and Austria. Metternich and Alexander
stood the more closely side by side.
The congress of sovereigns and Ministers
at Verona was certainly the most bril-
liant since that of Vienna. In October,
1822, came Alexander, Francis, and Fre-
deric William ; most of the Italian rulers,
Metternich, Nesselrode, Pozzo di Borgo,
Bernstorff, and Hardenberg ; France was
represented by Chateaubriand, the Duke
of Laval-Montmorency, Count La Ferro-
nays, and the Marquis of Caraman ;
Great Britain by Wellington and Viscount
Strangford. Entertainments were on as
magnificent a scale as at Vienna. Metter-
nich wished to annul the Spanish and
Portuguese revolution, and with ii the
extorted constitution ; the Eastern Powers
and France united for the eventuahty of
further hostile or revolutionary steps
being taken by Spain ; Great Britain
excluded itself from their agreements,
while Chateaubriand's romanticism in-
_ , toxicated the tsar. When the
C/ongress of /^ i < ii i j.
p Greeks at the congress sought
y help against the Turks, they were
coldly refused. On the other
hand, an understanding was arrived at
about the gradual evacuation of Pied-
mont by the Austrians ; the army of
occupation in the Two Sicilies was reduced ;
and good advice of every sort was given to
the Italian princes. The Eastern Powers
and France saw with indignation that
Great Britain intended to recognise the
separation of the South American colonies
from Spain, and their independence, ac-
cording to the example given by the
United States of North America, in March,
1822. The Congress of Verona ended
toward the middle of December.
Chateaubriand, now French Minister
of Foreign Affairs, urged a rupture with
Spain, at which Louis and Vill le still
hesitated. The thr-eatening notes of the
Powers at the Verona congress roused a
storm of passion in Madrid, while the
dijjlomatists in Verona had set themselves
the question whether nations might put
kings on their trial, as Dante does in his
Divine Comedy, and whether the tragedy
of Louis XVI. should be repeated with
another background in the case of Ferdi-
nand VII. The Spanish nation revolted
REACTION TRIUMPHANT IN THE LATIN STATES
against the arrogance ot foreign interference.
The rupture was made ; the ambassadors
of Russia, Austria, Prussia, and France
left Spain in January, 1823. The adven-
turous George Bessie res venKu-ed on an
expedition to Madrid ; but the Spanish
hope of British help against France,
which was intended to carry
out the armed interference,
was not fulfilled.
Louis XVIII. placed his
ne])hew, Duke Louis of
Angouleme, at the head of
an army of 100,000 men.
which was to free Ferdinand
from the power of the
Liberals and put him ance
again in possession of
despotic power. In the
Chamber at Paris the
Liberals, indeed, loudly de-
cried the war, and trembled
at the suppression of the
CHATEAUBRIAND
professions. He was accorded a state
reception by Angouleme on October ist,
and was proclaimed as absolute monarch
by a large party among the Spaniards.
But hardly was he free before the perjurer
began the wildest reaction. Many members
of the Cortes and the regency fled to
England to escape the
gallows, and Ferdinand
exclaimed: " The wretches
do well to fly from their
fate ! " The Powers of
Europe viewed his action
with horror. Angouleme,
whose warnings had been,
scattered to the winds, left
Madrid in disgust on Nov-
ember 4th. Riego was
hanged at Madrid on
November 7th, 1823 ; on
the 13th Ferdinand returned
ti^iumphant, only to reign
as detestably as before.
Spanish revolution, although This eminent French writer and poii- Talleyrand called the war
Canning openly desired the ^^^^^ l.lTuu^ahl-u'utZ^^^^^^^^ of intervention the begin-
victory of the Spanish a vicomte, and for two years repre- iiing of the end ; the rcsult of
people. Ferdinand and the ^""'"'^ ^''""^^ ^' '^^ ^"''''^ ^°"'-^- it was that Spain floundered
Cortes went to Seville. Angouleme crossed
the frontier stream, the Bidassoa, on April
7th, and found no traces of a popular rising ;
nevertheless, he advanced, without any
opposition, was hailed as a saviour, and
entered Madrid on May 24th. He appointed
a temporary regency, and in
order not to hurt the national
pride, avoided any inter-
ference in internal affairs,
although the reactionary zeal
of the regency caused him
much uneasiness, and only re-
tained the supreme military
command. But the Cortes in
Seville relieved the king of the
conduct of affairs and carried
him off to Cadiz. Victory
followed the French flag.
The Spaniards lost heart, and
were defeated or capitulated
further into the mire. The ultras tormented
the country and Ferdinand himself to
such a degree that he began to weary of
them. The colonies in South America
were irretrievably lost ; all the subtleties
of the congress at Verona and of Chateau-
briand could not change that
fact. At Canning's proposal
the British Government, on
January ist, 1825, recognised
the independence of the new
repubhcs of Buenos Ayres,
Colombia, and Mexico. "This
was a fresh victory over the
principle of legitimacy, which
had been always emphasised by
Austria, Spain, and France, as
well as by Russia and Prussia.
The Spanish insurrection
naturally affected the neigh-
bouring country of Portugal.
Angouleme made forced dona maria 11. da gloria The September Constitution
marches to Cadiz, and on the Joun^^d^by Ped^o'Yv'^'orB^azfr ^^ ^^^o, far from improving
night of August 31st stormed in favour of his daughter, but when matters there, had actuallv
Fort Trocadero, which was Sng in'^if^^he°rSnf d V"her introduced new difficulties,
considered impregnable. An father, and was restored in 1834, ConstitutionaHsts and abso-
expedition of Riego to the Isla de Leon lutists were quarrelling violently with each
ended in his arrest, and on September 28th
the Cortes, in consequence of the bombard-
ment of Cadiz, abandoned their resistance.
Ferdinand VII. voluntarily promised a
complete amnesty and made extensive
other. Dom Pedro, son of John VI., who
had been appointed regent in Brazil, saw
himself compelled by a national party,
which wished to make Brazil an indepen-
dent empire, to send away the Portuguese
4847
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
ti'oops. He assumed in May, 1822, the
t'tle of permanent protector of Brazil,
and convened a national assembly at
Rio de Janeiro, which on August ist and
on September 7th announced the inde-
pendence of Brazil, and proclaimed him,
on October 12th, 1822, Emperor of Brazil,
under the title of Dom Pedro I. The
Portuguese were furious, but were never
able to reconquer Brazil.
Queen Charlotte, wife of John and
sister of Ferdinand VII., a proud and
artful woman, refused to take the oath to
the Portuguese constitution, to which John
swore, and, being banished, conspired
with her younger son, Dom Miguef, the
clergy, and many nobles, to restore the
absolute monarchy. A counter re-
volution in February, 1823,
failed, it is true, but Dom
Miguel put himself at its head,
and Lisbon joined his cause.
The weak John sanctioned
this, and cursed the consti-
tution ; the Cortes were
dissolved. John promised a
new constitution, and trium-
phantly entered Lisbon with
his son on June 5th. Por-
tugal was brought back to
absolutism. John was a mere
cipher ; but Miguel and Char
lotte ruled, and did
on March loth, 1826, reigned for a short
period over his native country as Pedro IV.
Then, on May 2nd, Pedro renounced the
crown of Portugal in favour of his daugh-
ter,- Dona Maria II. da Gloria. On June
25th, 1828, Dom Miguel proclaimed him-
self king, favoured by the British Tory
Cabinet of Wellington. His niece, Maria da
Gloria, was forced to return to her father
in Brazil.
The victory of Trocadero, which was
audaciously compared by the French
ultras to Marengo and Austerlitz, was of
extraordinary advantage to the Govern-
ment of Louis XVm. " It was not
merely under Napoleon that victories were
won ; the restored Bourbons knew this
and the "hero of Trocadero"
was hailed as their "cham-
pion " by the king on
December 2nd, 1823. The
elections to the Chambers of
1824 were favourable to them ;
and a law in June of the same
year prolonged the existence
of the Second Chamber to
seven years, which might
seem some check on change
and innovation. VilLle
stood firm at the helm,
o V e«- 1 h r e w Chateaubriand,
secret
DOAl 1> JGUEL
rie became regent of Portugal on and guidcd Baron DamaS,
not ^^^*'^ °f ,•?'- "'«« ^^'J?;: ^"?f his successor at the
being- ambitious, proclaimed hiraself ^^^k.^^^^^,. vj... m^
shrink even from the king, when Maria recovered the FoiTigu Office. But Chateau-
murder of opponents. Miguel crown, Miguel withdrew to Italy. ^^-^^^ rcvengcd himself by
h. aded a new revolt against his father
on April 30th, 1824, in order to depose him.
But John made his escape on May gth
to a British man-of-war. The diplomatic
body took his side, and at the same time
liie pressure brought to bear by the British
Government compelled Miguel to throw
himself at his father's feet and to leave
Portugal on May 13th. An amnesty v/as
proi-laimed. The return of the old Cortes
vv.iich had sat before 1822 was promised,
and by British mediation the Treaty of Rio
was signed on August 2C)th, 1825, in which
the independence and self-government of
Brazil were recognised. On April 26th,
1826, Portugal received a Liberal Constitu-
tion by the instrumentality of Dom Pedro
I. of Brazil, who after his father's death,
the most bitter attacks in the Press.
Louis thereupon, at the advice of Villele,
revived the censorship on political journals
and newspapers, August i6th, 1824. The
much-tried man was nearing his end. He
warned his brother to uphold the Charta
loyally, the best inheritance which he
bequeathed ; if he did so, he too would
die in the palace of his ancestors.
Louis XVIII. died on September i6th,
1824. France hailed Monsieur as
Charles X., with the old cry, " Le roi est
mort, vive le roi." But Talleyrand had fore-
bodings that the kingdom of Charles would
soon decay ; and, with his usual coarseness
of sentiment, he said over the corpse of
Louis: "I smell corruption here!"
Arthur Kleinschmidt
^ '^ liliiillitli III '"ill iiii
4848
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
mtmoj
EUROPE
AFTER
WATERLOO
V
THE CROSS AND THE CRESCENT
REVOLT AND OPPRESSION IN RUSSIA
AND THE LIBERATION OF GREECE
"\Y7E have seen that the Tsar Alexander I.,
^ when he ascended the throne of Russia,
was full of liberal ideas. If he wavered
between antagonism to Napoleon and
alliance with him, it was, in part at least,
because Napoleon's own career bore a
double aspect ; if he was an aggressive
CQnqueror who sought to impose his own
will on Europe regardless of international
law, he was also the incarnation of anti-
feudalism. It was not until after the
Congress of Vienna and the Peace of Paris
that the change came over the tsar
which made him a force in Europe hardly
less reactionary than Metternich himself.
But it is with his domestic policy, his
policy within the borders of his own
empire, that we are here concerned ; his
foreign policy has already appropriated a
conspicuous share of earlier chapters.
On his accession, then, he
reigned in a liberal spirit, and
The Tsar's
Desire for
Reforms
surrounded himself with men of
the same views ; among them
his Secretary of State, Michael Speranskij,
was conspicuous. Magnanimous plans
were proposed, and the emperor himself
spoke of the buiden of an absolute
monarchy. There was a wish to introduce
reforms on the English model, or, as Sper-
anskij suggested, an imitation of the
French Constitution. People talked, as
Catharine had once done, of " the rights of
the subjects, and the duty of the Govern-
ment," and of the abolition of serfdom ;
and a sum of a million roubles yearly
was laid aside in order to buy estates
with serfs for the Crown.
The German nobility of Esthonia, Cour-
land, and Livonia took the first step by
the emancipation of the Lettic and
Esthonian serfs. The coercive measures
were repealed, the frontier opened, the
" Secret Chancery " as well as corporal
punishment for nobles, citizens, priests, and
church officials abolished. Schools and
universities were founded, and the empire
was divided into six educational districts.
In place of the old boards dating from the
days of Peter, real Ministries and a Council
of State were created for the first time.
Alexander thus reigned "according to the
principles and after the heart of Catharine "
.,, , , until 1812, when he suddenly
Attempt to 1 J 1, • 'Ti
„ , ^. changed his Views. Ihe ene-
Kestorc the • r x j j^i /^t_ i
rkij i% J mies 01 freedom, the Church
Old Order . . i_ ■ i_ j
once more at their head,
strained every nerve to overthrow Sper-
anskij, and restore the old order of things.
Even the great historian, Nikolaj Karam-
sin, recommended serfdom and autocracy
in his memoir on " Ancient and Modern
Russia." Others also recommended the
same policy. Speranskij was overthrown
from a " wounded feeling of disappointed
inclination " ; Count Alexej Araktshejev,
an apostle of slavery, as an all-powerful
favourite, guided the affairs of government.
Alexander did, indeed, make the attempt,
to which he had always been attracted, of
giving his reconstructed Poland a constitu-
tion ; but Poland was incapable of working
a constitution. Another of bis experiments
was that of establishing military/ colonies
all over the empire. The theory was that
the soldiery, planted on the soil, would
maintain themselves by agriculture, and
would at the same time provide centres
_ for recruiting and for military
ew o.m ^j.j^jj^jj^„ jgg practical effect.
Of Russian , '^ 1.1 i-
^ . however, was merely the appli-
cation of a new form of oppres-
sion to the already sufficiently oppressed
peasantry. The latter years of Alexander's
life were embittered by a sense of the
ingratitude of mankind. Conscious of his
own high purposes, he found his own
people, instead of recognising their nobility,
still murmuring and discontented, infected
even by the mutinous spirit of the Latin
4849
HARMS WORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
peoples. He expressed repeatedly a
desire to abdicate, and when he died at
Taganrog in December, 1825, it was with
no reluctance that he escaped from the
cares of sovereignty.
He left no children. Constantine, as
the elder of his brothers, would have had
the next claim to the throne had he not
formally renounced it in 1820
and 1822, in order to be able
to marry a Polish countess,
Johanna Grudzinska. The
idea that his brother Nicholas
had learnt nothing of this
before the memorable Decem-
ber days of the year 1825 is no
longer tenable. The homage
paid by the younger brother
to Constantine, who was stay-
ing in Warsaw, was a rash act
chiefly due to Count Milorado-
vitch, the miUtary Governor-
General of St. Petersburg at
that time, and it cost trouble
attention was given to the publication of
the legal code. His government aimed
at " stopping the rotation of the earth,"
as Lamartine aptly puts it. He recognised
no peoples or nations, only cabinets and
states. The Press was therefore once more
gagged, printing-offices were watched and
schools were placed under strict super-
vision. The Government's
mistrust of education was so
great that all lecture courses
on philosophy were entrusted
to the clergy. Even the Church
was watched, and the em-
peror's adjutant, Protassov,
a general of hussars, was
attached to the Holy. Synod
as Procurator-General, and
i for twenty years conducted
! the business of the Church
i on a military system. But
the movement towards ci\dlisa-
tion and hberty did not "f^ul
to have some influence even
noble contest of magnanimity between the
two brothers. But the idea of freedom had
already struck root so deeply under Alex-
ander I. that the supporters of a constitu-
tion, who had been secretly organised since
1816, especially in the corps of officers,
wished to use the opportunity of placing
the liberal-minded Constantine on the
throne. The rumour was spread
that Constantine's renunciation
Rebellion
Crushed by
Nicholas I.
NICHOLAS I. OF RUSSIA
enough to cancel it in the davs The son of Paul i., he succeeded on this iron despot, for he
between December 9th and S l-rf/orerliexk^defi.'^He advocated throughout his
24th, 1825. There is accord- aimed at absolute despotism but whole Hfc the abohtion of
ingly no need to suppose a «'°" ^^^ affection of his subjects, serfdom, and allowed even the
peasants to acquire property. Such was
the autocrat whose iron hand was to rule
Russia for thirty years after his accession.
In taking up the thread of the history
of the Ottoman Empire, we must note
certain events in the Napoleonic period
which have hitherto passed unrecorded,
as standing outside the general course of
our account of Europe. The movement,
which has by degrees turned one after
another of the provinces into practically
if not completely independent states, was
initiated in 1804 ^Y ^ Servian revolt,
caused by the violent methods of the
Turkish Janissaries, and headed by George
Petrovitch, otherwise known as Czerney, or
Karageorge. The insurrection broke out
locally at Sibnitza, Deligrad, Stalatz, and
Nish. Before long, Russian influence
^. ^ . brought to its support the
The Turks <- i-tt j • 1
D f tab ^^"^^^ Hospodars, or provmcial
iK^ S^ \ ^ administrators of Moldavia and
Wallachia, Constantine Murusiv
and Constantine Ypsilanti. The flame
spread, and in 1806 and 1807 the Serbs
inflicted defeats on the Turks at Shabatz
and Ushitze, imder the command of Milos
Obrenovitch, captured Belgrade, and estab-
lished the popular assembly, or Skuptskina.
Shortly before this, however, the Sultan
Selim had set himself to overthrow the
was only fictitious ; that he was
being kept a prisoner at Warsaw.
The troops shouted : " Long live Constan-
tine!" and when the cry "Long live the
Constitution ! " mingled with it, the
troops thought that it. was the name of
the wife of Constantine.
Nicholas L crushed the rebellion on
December 26th, 1825, with great firmness.
Several " Decabrists " were executed and
many exiled. Possibl}- that was one of
the reasons why Nicholas was throughout
his whole reign a sworn enemy of popular
liberty. A man of iron strength of character
and energy, he was, with his immense
stature and commanding presence, the
personification of absolutism. But he
was fully alive to the duties and respon-
sibilities which his great position threw
upon him, and he devoted all his powers
to the affairs of the country. His first
4S50
THE CROSS AND THE CRESCENT
Opponents
of the
New Sultan
dangerous power of the Janissaries by
means of a reorganisation of the army,
" Nisan Jedid." A further movement in
the same diiection in 1807 brought
disaster. The Janissaries rose ; Sehm was
deposed and murdered. The outcome of
a brief and bloody period of struggle was
that the one surviving prince of the royal
family, Mahmud, found himself placed on
the throne, and, to all intents and pur-
poses, in the hands of the Janissaries, who
had proved themselves to be the masters
of the situation. Hence the first act of
Mahnmd was to recognise these
praetorians in a solemn Hatti-
sherif, issued on November i8th,
as the firmest support of the
throne. The army and the population
greeted the one surviving descendant
of the Ottoman house with enthusiasm,
and the " Chok yasha Sultan Mahmud!"
resounded from thousands of throats in the
mosques and on the public squares. The
Ottoman dynasty had been saved as by a
miracle. The sultan, who was then twenty-
three years of age, was confronted by two
dangerous opponents, the Serbs and Rus-
sians. The latter were supporting the
Serbs and also the Montenegrins against
the Turks and the French in Dalmatia.
However, the war upon the Danube was
continued with - ^ -
no great vigour.
It was not until
the Peace of
Frederikshamn.
of September
17th, 1809, when
Russia acquired
Finland from
Sweden and
secured a guaran-
tee from Napo-
leon that the
Polish kingdom ^^^ -.?«^^^^»aiBa«K-
should not be ^^^^^^^^^^^/Bii
restored that ^-Hg- sultans selim hi. and mahmud
the lurkish War Sultan of Turkey, Selim HI. made an effort to overthrow the
affain took a ^^^n&erous power of the Janissaries, but the attempt ended in
° . disaster, Sehm being: deposed and assassinated in 1808. He was suc-
promment place ceeded on the throne by Mahmud IL, during whose reign Greece estab- mOSt
in R 11 «;';i a n I'^^ed its independence. Mahmud suppressed the Janissary troops.
policy. In 1810 Prince Bagration was
replaced by Count Kamenskii as supreme
commander over 80,000 men. He im-
mediately crossed the Danube, and on
June 3rd captured Bazarjik, which was
followed by the conquest of Silistria,
Sistova, Rustchuk, Giurgevo, and Nico-
polis. The fear of Napoleon and of a
Polish rising prevented further enterpiise.
After the death of Kamenskii, Kutusorf,
who was sixty-five years of age, utterlj;
defeated the Turks on October T2th, 1811,
at Slobodse and Rustchuk. This victory
decided the war. The British fleet made
a demonstration before the Dardanelles to
prevent the sultan agreeing to the Conti-
nental embargo of Napoleon.
The Peace of Bucharest, May 12th, 1812,
reconfirmed the conventions of Kiitchuk-
Kainarje and Jassy, ceded Bessarabia to
Russia, and gave the Serbs an amnesty,
greater independence, and an extension
of territory. The brothers Murusi, the
sultan's Phanariot negotiators, were ex-
ecuted upon their return home on
account of the extravagance of the
concessions made by them to the tsar.
The Russians had secured an influence
in Servia, which Austria had obstinately
disdained. When, however, in May, 1813,
the Russians appeared on the Oder and
Elbe the Turkish army again advanced
into Servia ; George Petrovitch fled to
Russia by way of Austria. The Ottomans
exacted a bitter vengeance upon the coun-
try, but on Palm Sunday, April nth,
1815, Milos Obrenovitch appeared with
the ancient banner of the voivodes. The
people as a whole flocked to the standard,
- and the Turks
were left in pos-
session only of
their fortresses.
On November
6th, 1817, Milos
was recognised
by the bishop,
the .Kneses and
people as voi-
vode ; while
Karageorge, who
had returned to
the country to
ally himself with
the Greek
H e t ffi r i a, was
murdered. Al-
c on tem-
porary with the
Society of the Philomusoi, which was
founded in Athens in 1812, arose in Greece
the secret confraternity of the " philiki,"
whose energies after some years brought
about the open struggle for freedom. Three
young Greeks— Skuphas of Arta, Tzaka-
loph of Janina, and Anagnostopulos of
Andritzena — founded the new Hetccria at
4851
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Odessa in 1814, and swore " to arrive at
a decision between themselves and the
enemies of their country only by means of
fire and sword." Oaths of appalling solem-
nity united this growing band of comrades.
It aimed at complete separation from
Turkey, and the revival of the old Bj'zan-
tine Empire. This yearning for liberation
I proceeded from and was sus-
„ . * - tained by an intellectual renas-
Th G k ^^'^ce of the nation, rrom the
time of the conquest of Byzan-
tium by the Turks the Greeks had been
deprived of all political freedom. But under
the ecclesiastical protection of their patri-
arch in Phanar and in monasteries, at
Athos and Janina in Epirus. and in the
theological school of the Peloponnese at
Dimitzana, the spark of culture and
freedom had glowed amongst the ashes,
and was kept alive in the language of the
Church and the Gospel.
As was the case with the Armenians and
the Jews, superior intelligence and dexter-
ity secured the highest positions for the
Greeks in the immediate proximity of
the Padishah. After the position of first
interpreter of the Porte had fallen into
their hands, at the end of the seventeenth
century, all negotiations concerning foreign
policy were carried on through them ; they
were preferred for ambassadorial posts in
foreign courts, and from the eighteenth
century the Porte made a practice of
choosing from their numbers the hospodars
of Molda\da and Wallachia.
The opinion of an English diplomatist
upon these " Phanariots," shortly before
the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, is
well known : " Under the oppression
exercised b\' Turkish despotism with a
daily increasing force, the Greek character
acquired a readiness for subterfuge and a
perversity of judgment on questions of
morality, which a continuance of servitude
gradually developed to an habitual double
dealing and treachery, which strikes
Q^ the foreigner from the first
r c e c c nioment ." However, the Greeks
Devastated i i i • i ^ t-. •
„ „ • looked anxiously to Russian
oy Jcynemies , i i-,
champions and liberators, not-
withstanding all the apparent privileges
received from the Porte, from the time of
the Peace of Posharevatz, when the whole
of Morea fell into the possession of the
Turks. In the devastation which Russia's
attempt to liberate the Morea had brought
down upon Greece in 1770, when Hellas
and Peloponnese suffered inhuman devas-
4852
tation from the Albanians whom the Turks
called in, Athens and the islands had been
spared ; in 1779 the Turks found them-
selves obliged to send Hasan Pasha to
destroy the unbridled Albanians at Tripo-
litsa. In the Peace of Kiitchuk-Kainarje
in 1774, Russia had again been obliged to
abandon the Greeks to the Ottomans,
though the Turkish yoke became lighter
as the power of the Porte grew feebler.
The Hellenes enriched themselves by
means of commerce ; the sails of the
merchantmen sent out by the islands
covered the Mediterranean. During the
French Revolution almost the entire
Levant trade of the Venetians and the
French fell into their hands. The number
of Greek sailors was estimated at ten
thousand. In their struggles with the
pirates their ships had always sailed pre-
pared for war, and they had produced a
race of warriors stout-hearted and capable,
like the Armatoles, who served in the
armies of Europe. In the mountain
ranges of Mania, of Albania, and Thessaly
still survived the independent spirit of the
wandering shepherds, or " klephts," who
_ had never bowed to the Otto-
-..^ ^^ , man sword. The children of the
p . rich merchants who traded with
the coasts of Europe studied
in Western schools, and readily absorbed
the free ideals of the American Union and
the French Revolution. In the year 1796,
Constantine Rhigas of Pherae sketched in
Vienna a plan for the rising of his nation,
and secured an enthusiastic support for
his aims, which he sang in fiery ballads.
When he was planning to enter into
relations with Bonaparte, whom he re-
garded as the hero of freedom, he was
arrested in Trieste in 1798, and handed
over by the Austrian police, with five of his
companions, to the Pasha of Belgrade,
who executed him. He died the death of a
hero, with the words: " I have sown the
seed, and my nation will reap the sweet
fruit." Adamantios Korais, 1748-1833,
of Smyrna was working in Paris, together
with his associates, before the fall of
Napoleon, to bring about the intellectual
renascence of the Greeks, the " Palin-
genesia." The only thing wanting to these
associations was a leader, as was also the
case with the Serbs.
This leader was eventually provided by
Russia. Alexander Ypsilanti, born of a
noble Phanariot family, was a grandson of
the hospodar of Wallachia of the same
THE CROSS AND THE CRESCENT
name who had been murdered by the
Turks in 1805 at the age of eighty ; he was
a son of that Constantine Ypsilanti who,
having supported the Servian insurrection,
had been deposed from the post of hospodar
of Wallachia, and had fled into exile. As
the tsar's adjutant during the Vienna
Congress, he had inspired that monarch
with enthusiasm for the Hetsria.
Relying upon the silent consent of his
master, he went to Kishinefl[, in Bessarabia,
in September, 1820, with the object of
communicating with the leaders of the
federation in the Danubian principalities,
in Constantinople, and upon the mainland.
Availing himself of the difficulties caused
to the Porte by the revolt of Ali Pasha
of Janina, Alexander Ypsilanti, accom-
panied by his brother Constantine and.
Prince Cantakuzenos, crossed the Pruth
on March 6th, 1821, entered Jassy, sent
a report on the same night to the tsar,
who was awaiting the result of the con-
gress at Laibach, and forthwith issued
an appeal to the Greek nation. On
March 12th he started for Wallachia ;
not until April Qth did he reach Bucharest
« ,. ^ with =^,000 men. But from
now the Tsar -i , . ,, .
jj . . that moment the movement
Th^^G* k proved unfortunate. The
tsar, whose hands were tied
by the Holy Alliance and the influence
of legitimist theories, declared the Greeks
to be rebels, and the Russian consul in
Jassy openly disapproved of the Phanariot
enterprise. It now became manifest how
feeble was the popularity 01 these leaders on
the Danube. They were opposed by the
Boyars, the peasants fell away from them,
the Serbs held back, and treachery reigned
in their own camp. To no purpose did the
" Sacred Band " display its heroism at
Dragashani, in Little Wallachia, on June
19th, 1821, against the superior forces of
the Pasha of Silistria and Braila.
On June 26th, Ypsilanti escaped to
Austrian territory, where he spent the
best years of his life at Munkacs and
Theresienstadt in sorrowfiil imprisonment ;
his health broke down, and he died shortly
after his liberation on January 31st, 1828.
The last of the ill-fated band of heroes,
Georgakis, the son of Nikolaos, blew
himself up on September 20th, in the
monastery of Sekko, Moldavia. The
fantastic ideal of a greater Greece, em-
bracing not only the classic Hellas, but
also the Danube states of Byzantine
Greece, thus disappeared for ever. The
Morea was already m full revolt against
the Turks. On April 4th, 1821, the
insurgents took Kalamate, the capital of
Messenia, and Patras raised the flag of the
Cross. The fare of revolt spread on every
side, and destruction raged among the
Moslems. The insurrection was led by
the national hero, Theodore Kolokotroni,
J . , _ a bold adventurer and able
A *^ ^t th'"^ general, though his followers
C h*'" ■ ^ often did not obey their head ;
and the fleet of the islands did
excellent service. The successes of the
Greeks aroused boundless fury in Constanti-
nople. Intense religious hatred was kindled
in the Divan, and at the feast of Easter,
April 22nd, the Patriarch Gregory of
Constantinople and three metropolitans
were hanged to the doors of their churches.
In Constantinople and Asia Minor, in the
Morea, and on the islands, Islam wreaked
its fury on the Christians.
Enthusiasm for the Greek cause spread
throughout the whole of Europe. The
noblest minds championed the cause of the
warriors, who were inspired by their noble
past with the pride of an indestructible
nationality, and were defending the Cross
against the Crescent. Since the occupation
of Athens by the Venetians in 1688, the
eyes of educated Europe had turned to the
city of Athene. The Venetian engineers,
Vermada and Felice, had then drawn up
an accurate plan of the Acropolis and of
the town, which was published by Fran-
cesco Fanelli in his " Atene Attica," 1707.
Du Cange wrote his " History of the
Empire of Constantinople under the
Prankish Emperors " in 1657, and in 1680
his " Historia Byzantina." Since the
days of George, Duke of Buckingham,
1592-1628, and Thomas, Earl of Arundel,
1586-1646, a taste for the collection of
examples of Greek art had been increas-
ing in England. Wealthy peers sent
their agents to Greece and the East,
or journeyed thither themselves, as did
Lord Claremont, who corn-
Greek Art j-nisgioned Richard Dalton to
J* . . make sketches of the Greek
Fashion . , , c . •
monuments and works of art m
1749. James Stewart and Nicholas Revett
published sketches of " The Antiquities of
Athens " in 1751. In 1776 appeared
Richard Chandler's " Travels in Greece."
In 1734 the Society of Dilettanti had been
founded in London with avowedly Phil-
hellenic objects. In 1764 appeared Winc-
kelmann's " History of Ancient Art," and
4853
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Europe
Inspired by
Greek Songs
in 1787 Edward Gibbon completed his
" Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."
From 1812 onwards Beethoven's opera,
" The Ruins of Athens," had aroused tears
and sympathy in every feeling heart.
Numberless memories and recollections
now carried away the sympathies of
Europe, which had only just shaken off
the yoke of the Corsican con-
queror. In 1821 Philhellenic
unions were formed upon all
sides to support the "heroes of
Marathon and Salamis " with money and
arms. The banker, Eynard of Geneva, the
Wiirtemberg General Norman, the French-
man Comte Harcourt, the United States,
England, King Lewis I. of Bavaria, an
artistic enthusiast, and the painter Hei-
degger sent money, arms, and ships, or
volunteer bands. The populations of Europe
were inspired by the Greek songs of Wilhelm
Miiller and the verses of Lord Byron
" The mountains look on Marathon, and
Marathon looks on the sea," and later by
his heroic death, April 19th, 1824, at
Missolonghi. Even Goethe, the prince of
poets, with all his indifference to politics,
was fascinated by the fervour of the Greek
and Servian popular songs, and cast his
mighty word into the scale of humanity.
The Russian people had felt ever since
the beginning of the Hellenic war of in-
dependence the warmest sympathy for
their oppressed brethren, and after the
horrors of April 22nd the Government
could no longer resist the exasperation felt
against the Turks ; a storm of indignation
swept through the civilised world.
The Russian ambassador, Baron Stroga-
noff, a Philhellene, spoke vigorously for
the Christians, and suspended relations
with the Porte in June ; and Capodistrias
announced to the world, in his Note of
June 28th, an ultimatum to Turkey that
the Turks were no longer entitled to re-
main in Europe. A mood very unpleasing
to Metternich had come over the fickle
». .. .1 tsar ; the Cabinets of Vienna
Metternich j Ci. t -ii. x • l
. and St. James saw with astonish-
p. . J r-. ment that Stroganoff left Con-
stantinople in August. Metter-
nich once more laid stress on the fact
that the triumph of the Greek revolution
was a defeat of the Crown, while Capodi-
strias was for the support of the Greeks
and for war against Turkey. The Porte,
well aware of the discord of the Euro-
pean Cabinets, showed little wilUngness
to give way and agree to their demands.
4854
Kolokotroni had invested the Arcadian
fortress of Tripohtza since the end of
April, 182 1. AH Turkish attempts to
relieve the garrison proved futile, while
the militia had been drilled into efficient
soldiers, and on October 5th, 1821, Tri-
pohtza fell. The Greeks perpetrated gross
barbarities. Demetrius Ypsilanti, Alexan-
der's brother, who also had hitherto
served in Russia, had been " Archistra-
tegos " since June of that year ; but he
possessed little reputation and could not
prevent outrages. The continued quarrels
and jealousy between the leaders of the
soldiers and of the civilians crippled the
power of the insurgents. Alexander Mav-
rogordato, a man of far-reaching imagina-
tion, undertook, together with Theodore
Negri, the task of giving Hellas a fixed polit-
ical system. In November, 1821, Western
and Eastern Hellas, and in December the
Morea, received constitutions.
The National Assembly summoned by
Demetrius Ypsilanti to Argos was trans-
ferred to Piadlia, near the old Epi-
dauros, and proclaimed on January 13th,
1822, the independence of the Hellenic
. nation and a provisional con-
srat""!? stitution, which prepared the
P^^ ground for a monarch3^ While
it broke with the Hetaeria, it ap-
pointed Mavrogordato as Proedros (presi-
dent) of the executive council to be at the
head of affairs, and in an edict of January
27th it justified the Greek insurrection in
the eyes of Europe. Corinth became the
seat of government. But the old discord,
selfishness, and pride of the several leaders
precluded any prospect of a favourable
issue to the insurrection. Kurshid Pasha,
after the fall of Ali Pasha of Janina,
which freed the Turkish army of occupation
in Albania, subjugated the Suliotes.
As a result of the objectless instiga-
tion of Chios to revolt, a fleet landed
in April under Kara Ali, and the island
was barbarously chastised. Indignation
at the Turkish misrule once more filled
the European nations, and they hailed
with joy the annihilation of Kara All's
fleet by Andreas Miaouli and Constantine
Kanari on June igth. In July a large
Turkish army under Mahmud Dramali
overran Greece from Phocis to Attica and
Argos. The Greek Government fled from
Corinth. In spite of all the courage of
Mavrogordato and General Count Nor-
mann-Ehrenfels, famous for the attack
on Kitzen, Suli was lost, owing to the
THE CROSS AND THE CRESCENT
defeat at Peta on July 16-17, and Western
Hellas was again threatened. The bold
Markos Botzaris lell on August 21st, 1823,
with his Suliotes, in the course of a sortie
against the besiegers of Missolonghi.
In his necessity the sultan now sum-
moned to his aid his most formidable
vassal, Mehemet Ali of Egypt. He first
sent his son Ibrahim to Candia for the
suppression of the revolt, in command of
his troops, who had been trained by
French officers. This leader then ap-
peared in the Morea, February 22nd,
1825, where the bayonet and his cavalry
gave him a great superiority over the
Greeks, who, though brave, were badly
disciplined and armed. None the less the
Greeks vigorously pro-
tested against the protocol
of peace, which was issued
by the Powers, of August
24th, 1824, recommending
them to submit to the
Porte and promising the
sultan's pardon, after
almost the whole popula-
tion of the Island of Psara
had been slaughtered on
July 4th. Three parties
were formed amongst the
Greeks themselves, one
under Mavrogordato
leaning upon England,
that of Capodistrias lean-
ing upon Russia, and that
of Kolettis leaning upon
France. British influence
prevailed. On December
2 1st, 1825, the Tsar Alex-
ander died at Taganrog
help given to the Greeks at that time by
Lord Cochrane and General Church, by
Colonels Fabvier, Vautier, and Heydeck,
did not stop the Turkish advance. On
June 5th, 1827, the Acropolis again capitu-
lated, and with it the whole of Greece was
Th S *^"^^ again lost to the Hellenes.
e u an However, a bold attack de-
Vt -J . livered at a most unexpected
point shook the throne of the
sultan. On May 28th, 1826, Mahmud
II. issued a Hatti-sherif concerning the
reform of the Janissaries. Upon the
resistance of these latter they were met
on the Etmeidan by the well-equipped
imperial army, supported on this occasion
by the Ulemas and the people, and were
mown down with grape-
shot. The sultan forth-
with began the formation
of a new corps upon
European models. It
was an event of the most
far-reaching importance
for the empire when
Mahmud first appeared
at the head of the faithful
in an overcoat, European
trousers, boots, and a red
fez instead of a turban.
His triumph, however,
was premature, his army
was momentarily weak-
ened, and the reforms
were not carried out.
The invader was already
knocking once again at
the door of the empire.
- BYRON AS A GREEK SOLDIER q^ Qctobcr 6th, 1826, his
The brave figrht for independence made by , • , , • • j
Greece against the Turks stirred the enthusi- plenipotentiaries Signed
and the youthful Nicholas h\Z^lg7p^!in7roniJ'Z^^^^^^^ an agreement at Akker-
I. ascended the throne, on January 4th, 1824, and died on April KHh. niau, agreeing ou ail poiuts
He quickly suppressed a military revolution to the Russian demands for Servia and the
in St. Petersburg, and showed his deter-
mination to break down the influence of
Metternich. Canning, whose whole sym-
pathies were with the Greeks, now sent the
Duke of Wellington to St. Petersburg, and
on April 4th, 1826, Great Britain and Russia
signed a protocol, constituting
Greece, like Servia, a tributary
vassal state of the Porte, with
a certain measure of indepen-
dence. Charles X. of France agreed to
these proposals, as his admiration had been
aroused by the heroic defence of Misso-
longhi, where Byron had fallen. Austria
alone secretly instigated the sultan to
suppress the Greek revolt. Even the
The Heroic
Death of
Loi d Byron
Danubian principalities, but refusing that
for Greek freedom. In vain did the
sultan send an ultimatum to the Powers
on June loth, 1827, representing that
the right of settling the Greek problem
was his alone. On April nth, 1827,
Capodistrias became President of the free
state of Corfu, under Russian influence,
and Russia, Britain, and France deter-
mined to concentrate their fleets in
Greek waters on July 6th, a month before
the death of Canning, which filled Greece
with lamentation. The result of the
movements was the battle of Navarino,
October 20th, one of the most murderous
naval actions in the whole of history ; in
4855
THE BAY OF NAVARINO AT THE TIME OF THE GREEK FIGHT FOR FR5,ED3M
four hours nearly 120 Turkish warships
and transports were destroyed. This
" untoward event," as Welhngton called
it — to the wrath of all Canningites —
implied a further triumph for Russian
policy, which had already acquired Grusia.
Imeretia — Colchis, iSix, and Gulistan,
18x3, ill Asia, and had secured its rear
in Upper Armenia by the acquisition of
Etchmiadzin, the centre of the Armenian
Church, in the Peace of Turkmanchai,
1828. Capodistrias, elected to the presi-
dency of Greece, entered on that office in
January. However, the sultan proved
:n')re obstinate than ever. In a solemn
Hatti-sherif he proclaimed in all the
mosques his firm intention to secure his
independence by war with Russia,
" which for the last fifty or sixty years
had been the chief enemy of the Porte."
He was without competent officers, and his
chief need was an army, which he had
intended to create had he been granted
time. Thus the main power of the Porte,
as at the present day, consisted in the
unruly hordes of Asia, whose natural
impetuosity could not replace the lack of
European discipline and tactical skill.
" Pluck up all your courage," Mahmud
tlicn wrote to liis Grand Yiz'w nt +!:-'
THE MURDEROUS" NAVAL BATTLE OF NAVARINO ON OCTOBER
4856
THE CAPITULATION OF THE TURKISH STRONGHOLD VARNA ON OCTOBER 10th, 1828
From the drauiiij^ bv Zu'ei-'le
4857
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
The Grand
Vizir's Army
n Flight
military headquarters, " for the danger is
great." On May 7th the Russians crossed
the Pruth in Europe, and on June 4th, the
Arpaichai in Asia. Ivan Paskevitch con-
quered the district of Kars and Achal-
zich, between the Upper Kur and Araxes,
and secured a firm base of operations
against Erzeroum. The Russians on the
Danube advanced more slowly.
It was not until the fall of
Braila, on June 17th, and of
Varna, on October nth, 1828,
that they ventured to attack the natural
fortress of the Balkans. But the approach
of winter suspended the indecisive struggle.
A second campaign was therefore
necessary to secure, a decision. In Eastern
Roumelia the Russians seized the harbour
of Sizebolu. February 15th, 1829, in order
to. provision their army. On February
24th, Diebich took over the
supreme command, crossed
the Danube in 'Slay, and on
June nth defeated and put
to flight, by means of his
superior artillery, the army of
the Grand Vizir Reshid
Mehemed, at Kulevcha.
Silistria then surrendered,
June 26th, and in thirteen
days, July I4th-26th, Diebich
crossed the Balkans with two
army corps ; while on July
7th Paskevitch had occupied
Erzeroum in Asia. The
passage of this mountain
GENERAL DIEBICH
general, on September 14th, offered con-
ditions sufficiently severe. Before the
war the tsar had issued a manifesto
promising to make no conquests. Now,
in /\ugust, 1828, he demanded possession
of the Danube islands, of the Asiatic
coast from Kuban 'to Nikolaja, the
fortresses and districts of Atzshur,
Achalzich, and Achalkalaki, with new
privileges and frontiers for Moldavia,
Wallachia, and Servia. The sultan, under
pressure of necessity, confirmed the
London Convention of July 6th, 182 1,
in the tenth article of the peace. The
president, Capodistrias, received new sub-
sidies, and loans from the Powers; more-
over, on July 19th, 1828, the Powers in
London determined upon an expedition
to the Morea, the conduct of which was
entrusted to France. Ibrahim retired,
while General Maison oc-
cupied the Peninsula,
September 7th. The Greek
army, composed of Palikars,
troops of the line, and
Philhellenes, was now armed
with European weapons ; it
won a series of victories at
the close of 1828 at
Steveniko, Martini, Salona,
Lutraki, and Vonizza, and
by May, 1829, captured
Lepanto, Missolonghi, and
Anatoliko. In 1828 the
Cretan revolt again broke
out, with successful results.
barrier, which was regarded a Russian fieid-marshai, he fought On July 23rd, 1829, the
as impregnable, produced ifurkfsh^war on,s!" waT^iven thi National Assembly, tired of
-.' was given the
an overwhelmmg impression surname of "Sabaikanski," which internal
„ _ i.i_ TT 1 X signifies "Grosser of the Balkans." , j ^ ji ij. j •
upon the lurks, many of had repeatedly resulted m
dissensions, which
whom regarded the Russian success as sf
deserved punishment for the sultan's
reforms. Diebich " Sabaikanski " ad-
vanced to Adrianople. However, Mustafa,
Pasha of Bosnia, was already advancing.
Fearful diseases devastated the Russian
army, which was reduced to 20,000 men.
None the less Diebich joined hands with
Sizebolu on the Black Sea, and with
Enos on the ^Egean Sea, although the
British fleet appeared in the Dardanelles
to protect the capital, from which the .
Russians were scarce thirty miles distant.
Both sides were sincerely anxious for
peace. However, the sultan's courage
was naturally shaken by the discovery of
an extensive conspiracy among the old
orthodox party. The Peace of Adrianople,
secured by the mediation of the Prussian
4858
civil war, conferred dictatorial powers
upon the president. The Peace of
Adrianople was concluded on September
14th, 1829 ; this extended Russia's terri-
tory in Asia, opened the Black Sea to
Russian trade, and obtained for Greece a
recognition of its independence from the
Porte. The Western Powers
did not at all wish it to become
a sovereign Power under Rus-
sian influence, and it was
finally agreed, on February 3rd, 1830,
that the independent state should be con-
fined to as narrow limits as possible, from
the mouth of the Aspropotamos to the
mouth of the Spercheias, the Porte
assenting on April 24th.
Vladimir Milkowicz
Heinrich Zimmerer
Independence
of Greece
Established
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE
AFTER
WATERLOO
VI
FALL OF THE BOURBON MONARCHY
LOUIS PHILIPPE "KING OF THE FRENCH"
'"THE French were the first nation to put
-■■ an end to the weak policy of the
Restorations. Their privileged position
as the " pioneers of civilisation " they
used with that light-hearted energy and
vigour by which their national cha acter
is peculiarly distinguished, while main-
taining the dexterity and the distinction
which has invariably marked their public
action. The cup of the Bourbons was
full to overflowing. It was not that" their
powers of administration w^ere in any
material degree inferior to those of other
contemporary royal houses ; such a view
of the situation would be entirely mistaken.
They were, however, in no direct con-
nection with their people, and were
unable to enter into relations with the
ruling society of Paris. The restored
emigres, the descendants of the noble
families of the period of Louis XV. and
XVL, whose members had lost their lives
_ . under the kniie of the guillo-
Of^th ^^^^^ tine, were unable to appreciate
„ , .. the spirit which animated the
Revolution ^ ^
trance of Aapoleon Bona-
parte. This spirit, however, had availed
itself of the interim which had been granted
definitely to establish its position, and
had become a social power which could no
longer be set aside. Family connections in
a large number of cases, and the ties of
social intercourse, ever influential in
France, had brought the Bonapartists into
direct relations with the army, and with
the generals and officers of the emperor
who had been retired on scanty pensions.
The floating capital, which had grown to
an enormous extent, was in its hands, and
was indispensable to th.> Government if it
was to free itself from the burden of a
foreign occupation. By the decree of
April 27th, 1825, the reduced noble
families whose goods had been confiscated
by the nation were relieved by the grant
of ;^40,ooo,ooo. The decree, however, did
not imply their restoration to the social
position they had formerly occupied ; the
emigrant families might be the pensioners
of the nation, but could no longer be the
leading figures of a society which thought
them tiresome and somewhat out of date.
Louis XVIIL, a well-disposed monarch,
and not without ability, died on September
Ch X ^^^^' 1824, and was succeeded
J,. ■ by his brother Charles X., who
^r'l? had, as Count of Artois, in-
Oi I" ranee 1,1 i- r t-
curred the odmm of every Euro-
pean court for his obtrusiveness, his
avowed contempt for the people, and for
his crotchety and inconsistent character ;
he now addressed himself with entire
success to the task of destroying what
remnants of popularity the Bourbon family
had retained. He was, however, tolerably
well received upon his accession. The
abolition of the censorship of the Press had
griined him the enthusiastic praise of Victor
Hugo, but hislibei'al tendencies disappeared
after a short period. Jesuitical priests
played upon his weak and conceited mind
with the object of securing a paramount
position in France under his protection.
The French, however, nicknamed him,
from the words of Beranger, the bold
song writer, " Charles le Simple " when he
had himself crowned in Rheims after the
old Carolingian custom. His persecution
of the liberal Press increased the influence
of the journalists. The Chambers showed
no hesitation in rejecting the law of censor-
ship introduced by his Minister, Villele.
When he dissolved them, barricades were
again raised in Paris and volleys fired upon
citizens. Villtle could no longer remain at
the helm. Martignac, the soul of the new
^Ministry which entered on office
Z .""T • January 5th, 1828, was a
Ministry in -' r 1 j ■ 11
p man of honour, and especially
adapted to act as mediator.
His clear intellect raised him a head and
shoulders above the mass of the Royalists.
He wished for moderation and progress,
but he never possessed Charles's affection,
and was no statesman. Charles opposed
Martignac's diplomacy with the help ol his
4859
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
contidants, Polignac and others ; and
while Martignac seemed to the king to be
" too Uttle of a Villele," public opinion
accused him of being " too much of a
Vill le." His laws as to elections and the
Press seemed too liberal to Charles ; his
interference in the Church and the schools
roused the fury of the Jesuits ; and the
Abbe Lamennais, who had been won back
by them, compared the king with Nero and
Diocletian. . Lamennais attacked the
Galilean Church of " atheistic " France,
called the constitutional monarchy of
Charles the most abominable despotism
which had ever burdened humanity, and
scathingly assailed the ordinances which
Charles had issued in June, 1828, relating
to religious brotherhoods and clerical
education. Martignac's government, he
said, demoralised society, and the moment
was near in which the oppressed people
must have recourse to force, in order to
rise up. in the name of the infallible Pope
against the atheistic king. Martignac's
Cabinet could claim an important foreign
success when the Marquis de Maison, who
led an expeditionary corps to the Morea,
compelled the Egyptians, under Ibrahim
Pasha, to retreat in August, 1828, and
thwarted Metternich's plan of a quadruple
alliance for the forcible pacification of
Russia and Turkey. But when Martignac
CHARLES X,, KING OF FRANCE
On the death of Louis XVIII. in lS2t, his brother, Charles X., succeeded to the throne. Prior to that, the direction of
affairs had been largely in his hands owing to the weakness of the king, and by his obtrusiveness and his avowed
contempt for the people he had incurred the odium of every European court. Though he was fairly well received upon
his accession, he quickly alienated the sympathies of his people, and he was compelled to abdicate in 183t).
4860
Viliele
Martignac
Polignac
THREE NOTABLE MINISTERS OF FRANCE UNDER CHARLES X.
The rapidly-growing unpopularity of the French king, Charles X., was shared by the Ministry of Villfele, which was
defeated at the polls. Martignac, the soul cf the new Ministry, which entered office on January 5th, 18'28, aimed at
moderation and progress and met with opposition from Charles. When Martignac withdrew, in 1820, his place was
taken by Polignac, but his position as head of the Bourbon Ministry did not commend itself to the people of France, and
the revolt against 1;he rule of Charles soon drove that monarch from the throne, thus ending the Bourbon regime.
wished to decentralise the French admini- commanded him to cut off the head of the
stration, and brought in Bills for this pur-
pose in February, 1829, he was deserted
by everyone. The extreme Right allied
itself with the Left ; Martignac withdrew
the proposals in April, and on August 8th,
1829, Polignac took his place.
The name of Jules Polignac seemed to
the country a presage of coups d'etat and
3nti-constitutional reaction. The new
Ministry included not a single popular
representative amongst its members. A
cry of indignation was heard, and the Press
made the most violent attacks on the new
Minister. The Duke of . Broglie placed
himself at the head of the society formed to
defend the charter, called " Aide-toi, le ciel
t'aidera"; republicans, eager for the fray,
grouped themselves round Louis Blanqui,
Etienne Arago, and Armand Barbcs.
The newspaper, " National," began its
work on behalf of the Orleans family,
for whom Talleyrand, Thiers, Jacques
Laffite the banker, and Adelaide, the
sister of Duke Louis Philippe, cleared
the road. Even Metternich, Wellington,
and the Emperor Nicholas advised that no
coup d'etat should be made against the
Charta. Charles, however, remained the
untaught emigrant of Coblenz, and did not
_. _, understand the new era; he
The Dreamer ,-i . ■ ^■ .
Q, . saw. in every constitutionalist
R»c«^-«f:«« 3- supporter of the revolution-
Kestor.ation ^'^ ^ , t , •
ary party and a Jacobin.
Polignac was the dreamer of the restora-
tion, a fanatic without any worldly wisdom,
whom delusions almost removed from the
world of reality, who considered himself,
with his limited capacity, to be infallible.
The Virgin had appeared to him and
hydra of democracy and infidelity.
Polignac, originaUy only Minister of
Foreign Affairs, became on November
17th, 1829, President of the Cabinet
Council. In order to gain over the nation,
. . which was hostile to him, he
giers in tried to achieve foreign suc-
thc Hands of r .l tt i • i
,. P . cesses lor it. He laid stress on
the principle of thi freedom of
the ocean as opposed to Great Britain's
claims to maritime supremacy, and
sketched a fantastic map of the Europe
of the future ; if he could not transform
this into reality'', at all events military
laurels should be won at the first oppor-
tunity which presented itself.
The Dey of Algiers had been offended by
the French, and had aimed a blow at their
consul, Deval, during an audience. Since
he would not listen to any rem-onstrances,
France made preparations by land and
sea. In June, 1830, the Minister of War,
Count Bourmont, landed with 37,000
men near Sidi-Ferruch, defeated the Al-
gerians, sacked their camp, and entered
the capital on July 6th, where he cap-
tured much treasure. He banished the
Dey, and was promoted to be maishal
of France. Algiers became French, but
Charles and Polignac were not destined
.to enjoy the victory.
The new elections, for which writs were
issued after the Chamber of Deputies had
demanded the dismissal of Polignac, proved
unfavourable to the Ministry and forced
the king either to change the Ministry
or make some change in the constitution.
The Jesuits at that time had not yet
adequately organised their political system,
4861
r *" "^ *>, "■■"'v^r^T^^'^^ T'X"^!-?'^**^
■sSSSPB^'^?»a
"^^ZTT" ;,^
ALGIERS AS IT WAS IN THE YEAR 1830 WHEN TAKEN BY THE FRENCH
From an engraving of the period
and were in France more obscure than in
Belgium and Germany. However, they
thought themselves sure of their ground,
and advised the king to adopt the latter
alternative, notwithstanding the objections
of certain members of his house, including
the dauphine Marie TherCse.
Meanwhile, the Press and the parties
in opposition became more confident ;
Royer-Collard candidly assured Charles
that the Chamber would oppose every one
of his Ministries. Charles, however, only
hstened to Polignac's boastful confidence,
and at the opening of the Chambers on
March 2nd, 1830, in. his speech from the
throne he threatened the opposition in
such unmistakable terms that doctrinaires
as well as ultra-Liberals detected the un-
shtathing of the royal sword. Pierre
Antoine Berryer, the most briUiant orator
of legitimacy, and perhaps the greatest
French orator of the century, had a lively
passage of a^ms in the debate on the
address with Fran(;:ois Guizot, the clever
leader of the doctrinaires, and was de-
feated ; the Chamber, by 221 votes against
181, accepted on March i6th a peremp-
tory answer to the address, which in-
formed the monarch that his Ministers
did not possess the confidence of the nation
and that no harmony existed between the
Government and the Chamber. Charles,
however, saw that the monarchy itself
was at stake, declared his resolutions
4862
unalterable, and insisted that he would
never allow his Crown to be humiliated.
He prorogued the Chambers on March
19th until September ist, and dismissed
prefects and officials ; whereupon the
221 were feted throughout France. Charles
in some perturbation then demanded from
his Ministers a statement of the situation.
But Polignac's secret memorandum of
April 14th lulled his suspicions again.
It said that only a small fraction of the
nation was revolutionary and could not be
dangerous ; the charter was the gospel,
and a peaceful arrangement was easy.
Charles dissolved th:? Chambers on May
1 6th, and summoned a new one
for August 3rd. Instead of
recalling Villele, he strengthened
the Ministry by followers of
On May 19th De Chantelauze
and Count Peyronnet came in as Minister
of Justice and Minister of the Interior.
The appointment of Peyronnet was, in
Charles' own words, a slap in the face for
public opinion, for there was hardly an
individual more hated in France ; he now
continually advised exceptional measures
and urged a coup d'etat against the
provisions of the Charta. In order to
facilitate the victory of the Government
at the new elections, he explained in his
proclamation to the people on June 13th
that he would not give in. But the
society " Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera " secured
The King's
Defiance of
the People
Polignac.
FALL OF THE BOURBON MONARCHY
the re-election of the 221 ; the opposition
reached the number of 272 ; the Ministry,
on the other hand, had only 145 votes.
Disorders were visible in the whole of
France. Troops were sent to quiet them,
but the Press of every shade of opinion
fanned the flame. Charles saw rising
before him the shadow of his brother,
whom weak concessions had brought to
the guillotine ; spoke of a dictatorship ;
and, being entirely under Polignac's
influence, inclined towards the plan of
adopting exceptional measures and re-
asserting his position as king. On July
26th five royal ordinances were published.
In these the freedom of the Press as
established by law was greatly limited ;
the Chambers of Deputies, though
only just elected, were again dis-
solved ; a new law for reorganising the
elections was proclaimed, and a chamber
to be chosen in accordance with this
method was summoned for September
28th. In other words, war was declared
THE CAPTURE OF THE HOTEL DE VILLE BY THE CITIZENS OF PARIS
The Paris Revolution of 1830 was brief but decisive, ending in the dethronement of Charles X. For three days — from
July 2t3th till the 29th— Paris was in a state of revolution. The populace attacked the Hotel de Ville and the Tuileries,
the capture of the former, after a spirited defence by the National Guard, being shown in the above picture.
48b3
LEADERS IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 18^0
The best known political writer in France at the time, Adolphe Thiers, wrote the " Histoire de la Revolution Fran(,'aise,"
which obtained a rapid popularity. An opponent of tiie Polignac administration, he declared for a change of dynasty,
and in his liberal policy was supported by the financiers Jacques Laffitte, and Casimir Perier, who had a large
following, enjoying unlimited influence among the property-owning citizens, who were joined by some of the nobility.
upon the constitution. According to para-
graph 14 of the charter, the king " is chief
head of the state. He has command of
the mihtary and naval forces ; can declare
war, conclude peace, alliances, and com-
mercial treaties ; has the right of making
appointments to every office in the public
service, and of issuing the necessary
regulations and decrees for the execution
of the laws and the security of the state."
Had the king, ^s indeed was maintained
by the journals supporting the Ministry,
ventured to claim the power
of ruling through his own
decrees, for which he alone
was responsible, then all
regulations as to the state of
the legislature and the sub-
ordination of the executive
would have been entirely
meaningless. Paris, desiring
freedom, was clear upon this
point, and immediately set
itself with determination to
the task of resistance. The
first day began with the
demonstrations of the
DrinterS who found thpir Author of the " Rights of Man
piiiiLcis, wnu I^Liil^ l^il^il theory, and the patriarch of th
LAFAYETTE
following sentence : "In the present state
of affairs obedience ceases to be a duty."
The author of this composition was
Adolphe Thiers, at that time the best
known political writer in France, born in
Marseilles, April 15th, 1797, and practising
as advocate in Aix in 1820. In 1821 became
to Paris and entered the office of the
" Constitutionnel," and co-operated in the
foundation of several periodicals, writing
at the same time his " Histoire de la
Revolution Fran^aise," in ten volumes,
1823-1827. This work was
rather a piece of journalism
than a scientific history. It
attained rapid popularity
among the liberal bourgeois
as it emphasised the great
successes and the valuable
achievements of the Revolu-
tion, while discountenancing
the aberrations of the lament-
able excesses of an anarchical
society ; constitutionalism and
its preservation were shown
to* be the results of all the
struggles and sacrifices which
France had undergone to
occupation considerably re- Revolution, he commanded the Na- sccure freedom and power of
A.,-,^r.A K,r +U^ -D^^^^ tional Guard in the rising of 1830. __,. i_^ ■_,■ j^ _.■ _
duced by the Press censor
ship. This movement was accompanied
by tumultuous demonstrations of dis-
satisfaction on the part of the general
public in the Palais Royal, and the
windows of the unpopular Minister's
house were broken. On the morning of the
second day the liberal newspapers appeared
without even an attempt to gain the
necessary authorisation from the autho-
rities. They contained a manifesto couched
in identical language and including the
4864
self-determination to nations
at large. Thiers also supported the view
of the members that the charter of 1814
provided sufficient guarantees for the
preservation and exercise of the rights
of the people. These, ho\,'ever, must be
retained in their entirety and protected
from the destructive influences of malicious
misinterpretation. Such protection he
considered impossible under the govern-
ment of Charles X. He was equally dis-
trustful of that monarch's son, the Duke
FALL OF THE BOURBON MONARCHY
of Angouleme, and had already pretty
plainly declared for a change of dynasty
and the deposition of the royal line of the
House of Bourbon in favour of the
Orleans branch. Thiers and his journal-
istic friends were supported by a number
of the advocates present in Paris, in-
cluding the financiers Jacques Laffitte
and Casimir Perier. They also possessed
a considerable following and enjoyed
unlimited influence among the property-
owning citizens, who were again joined
by the independent nobility excluded
from court. They gave advice upon
the issue of manifestoes, while Marmont,
the Duke of Ragusa and military com-
mander in Paris, strove, with the few
troops at his disposal, to suppress the noisy
gatherings of the dis-
satisfied element, which
had considerably in-
creased by July 27th.
Paris began to take up
arms on the following
night. On the 28th,
thousands of workmen,
students from the poly-
technic schools, doctors,
and citizens of every
profession, were fighting
behind numerous barri-
cades, which resisted all
the efforts of the troops.
Marmont recognised his
inability to deal with the
revolt, and advised the
king, who was staying
with his family and
Ministers in Saint Cloud,
The Soldiery
Desert to
the Revolters
LOUIS PHILIPPE, KING OF FRANCE
After the Revolution of 1830, which drove
Charles X. from the throne, Louis Philippe,
the eldest son of Philip " Egalitc-," received waS UOW forCcd tO Clldure
to withdraw the ordi- t'^« "°«'"' ^"'^ """^^^ ^er "citizen king" the aspersions of treachery
support the king's cause to the last. The
troops, however, were by no means iix
love with the Bourbon hierarchy, and n .
one felt any inclination to risk his life ok
behalf of such a .ridiculous coxcomb as
Polignac, against whom the revolt appeare* I
chiefly directed. The regi-
ments advancing upon Paris
from the neighbouring pro-
vinces halted in the suburlDS.
Within Paris itself two regiments of the
line were . won over by the brother of
Laffitte, the financier, and deserted to the
revolters. During the forenoon of July
2gth, Marmont continued to hold the
Louvre and the Tuileries with a few thou-
sand men. In the afternoon, however, a
number of armed detachments made their
way into the Louvre
through a gap caused by
the retreat of a Swiss
battalion, and Marmont
was forced to retire into
the Champs Elysees. In
the evening the marshal
rode off to Saint Cloud
with the news that the
movement in Paris could
no longer be suppressed
by force, and that the
king's only course of
action was to open ne-
gotiations with the leaders
of the revolt. Marmont
had done all he could for
the Bourbon monarchy
with the very inadequate
force at his disposal, and
France regained some of her old prosperity.
have caused
nances. Even then a
rapid decision might nave caused a
change of feeling in Paris, and have
saved the Bourbons, at any rate for the
moment ; but neither the king nor
Polignac suspected the serious danger
confronting them, and never supposed
that the Parisians would be able to stand
against 12,000 troops of the hne. This,
_ . . indeed, was the number that
Fans in ^r , ,
. . ^ Marmont may have concen-
Arms against , , 1 r ^i
.. J,. trated from the garrisons in
the immediate neighbourhood.
In view of the well-known capacity of the
Parisians for street fighting, their bravery
and determination, this force would
scarce have been sufficient, even granting
their discipline to have been unexception-
able, and assuming their readiness to
uttered by the Duke of
Angouleme before the guard. This member
of the Bourbon family, who had been
none too brilliantly gifted l^y Providence,
was entirely spoiled by the ultra legitimist
rulers and priests, who praised his Spanish
campaign as a brilliant military achieve-
ment, and compared the attack on the
Trocadero to Marengo and Austerlitz. A
prey to the many illusions emanating from
the brain of the " sons of Saint Louis,"
it was left to his somewhat nobler and
larger-minded father to inform him that
even kings might condescend to return
thanks, at any rate to men who had risked
their lives in their defence.
Marmont was, moreover, mistaken in
his idea that Charles could retain his
throne for his family by negotiations, by
4865
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the dismissal of Polignac, by the recogni-
tion of recent elections, or even by abdica-
tion in . favour of his grandson Henry,
afterwards Count of Chambord. The fate of
the Bourbons was decided on July 30th,
and the only question for solution was
whether their place should be taken by
a republic or by a liberal constitutional
monarchy under the princes of Orleans.
Louis Phihppe, son of the Duke of
Orleans and of the Princess Louise Marie
Adelaide of Penthievre, had been given
on his birth, October 6th, 1773, the title
of the Duke of Valois, and afterwards of
Duke of riiartre?. Duiintj tlie Revolution
visited almost every country in Europe,
and in North America had enjoyed the
opportunity of becoming acquainted with
the democratic state and its powers of
solving the greatest tasks without the
support of princes or standing armies.
Consequently upon his return to France
he was considered a Liberal, was both
hated and feared by the royal family,
and became highly popular with the
people, the more so as he lived a very
simple life notwithstanding his regained
wealth ; he associated with the citizens,
invited their children to play with his
sons ^nd daughters, and in wet weather
i .-■^^^;^*^r■*ffl»^A^^:^-^:.-^a^w«^A»ga»»»ia^^ .
THE DEPUTIEB OFFERING THE LIEUTENANCY OF FRANCE TO THE DUKE -ANS
Meeting at the Bourbon Palace on July 30th, is.'.n.i, the deputies offered the " lieutenancy of the kingdi.^^ ._ . ._ Duke
of Orleans, who had become popular with the people. He at first hesitated, but on the following day, acting, it is said,
on the advice of Talleyrand, accepted the office. Reading from left to right, the figures in the above picture are :
Aug. Piirier, Aug. Hilarion de Keratry, Berard, Baron B. Delessert, Duke of Orleans, General Sebastiani, A. de St.
Aignan, Charles Dupin, Andr6 Gallot, Dugas-Montbel, Duchaffaud, General Count Mathieu Dumas, Bernard de Rennes.
he had called himself General Egalite,
and Duke of Orleans after the death of his
father, the miserable libertine who had
voted for the death of Louis XVL As
he had been supported by Dumouriez
in his candidature for the throne, he was
obliged to leave France after the flight of
that leader. He had then been forced
to lead a very wandering life, and even to
earn his bread in Switzerland as a school-
master. Forgiveness for his father's sins
and for his own secession to the revolters
had long been withheld by the royal house,
until he was at length recognised as
the head of the House of Orleans. He had
4866
would put up his umbrella and go to the
market and talk with the saleswomen.
He had become a very capable man of
business, and was highly esteemed in
the financial world. Complicity on his
part in the overthrow of his relatives
cannot be proved — such action was indeed
unnecessary ; but there can be no doubt
that he desired their fall, and turned it to
his own advantage. In his retreat at
Raincy at Neuilly he received the message
of Laffitte and the information from
Thiers in person that the Chamber would
appoint him lieutenant-general to the
king ?nd invest him with full power.
fc. oH
4867
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
He then returned to Paris, and was there
entrusted by Charles X. with that office
in his own name and as representative
of Henry V., who was still a minor.
He conformed his further procedure to
the spirit of these commands
as Ions; as he deemed this
The Doom of
the Bourbon
Mon archy
course of action favourable to
his own interests. As soon as
he became convinced that the king's word
was powerless, he announced the monarch's
abdication, but kept silence upon the fact
that he had abdicated in favour of his
grandson. No doubt the representations
of his adherents that he alone could save
France from a republic largely contributed
to the determination of his decision.
On July 31st it was definitely decided
that France should be permanently re-
lieved of the Bourbons who had been
imposed upon her ; however, concerning
the future constitution widely divergent
opinions prevailed. The decision lay with
the Marquess of Lafayette, the author of
the " Rights of Man " theory, the patriarch
of the Revolution, who had already taken
over the command of the National Guard
on the 29th, at the request of the Chamber
of Deputies. -The Republicans, who had
been responsible for all the work of
slaughter, and had inspired the people to
take up arms, reposed full confidence in
him as a man after their own heart, and
entrusted him with the office of dictator.
The rich bourgeoisie, and the journalists
in connection with them, were, however,
afraid of a Republican victory and of the
political ideals and social questions which
this party might advance for solution.
, That liberalism which first
..!^-^"^ became a political force in
„. \, France is distinguished by a
tendency to regulate freedom in
proportion to social rank, and to make the
exercise of political rights conditional
upon education and income. The financial
magnates of Paris expected to enter
unhindered into the inheritance of the
THE MARCH OF THE NATIONAL GUARD TO RAMBOUILLET
Realising that the nation was at last tired of the Bourbon dynasty, Charles X. abdicated in favour of his youno:
grandson Henry V. ; but France preferred Louis Philippe, and he was called to the throne. He naturally wished to have
his inconvenient cousin out of the country, and to hasten his departure a march of the National Guard to Rambouillet,
where Charles was at that time residing, was organised. The march was more like a holiday procession than an
intimidating movement, being joined by crowds of people, some on vehicles and others on foot, singing the Marseillaise
and shouting " Vive la libertii ! " The movement, however, had the desired result, Charles leaving France for England.
4868
1
'J
^'^^^\% %i >'
LOUIS PHILIPPE TAKING THE OATH O^ THE CONSTlIUTluN ON AUGUST iii l-.i)
Before a bnlliant assembly of the Chambers, as shown in the above picture, Louis Philippe took the oath
of the Constitution on August 9th, 1830, and from that time entitled himself "The King of the French."
effect to the different tendencies
Legitimists, and permanently to secure
the powers of government so soon as peace
had been restored. For this pm'pose they
required a constitutional king of their
own opinions, and Louis Philippe was
their only choice. He probably had no
difficulty in fathoming their designs, but he
hoped when once established on the
throne to be able to dictate his own terms
and address himself forthwith to the task
of reducing the Republican party to
impotence. He proceeded in a solemn
procession to the town hall, with the object
of winning over Lafayette by receiving
the supreme power from his hands. The
old leader considered this procedure
entirely natural, constituted himself pleni-
potentiary of the French nation, and
concluded an alliance with the " citizen-
king," whom he introduced, tricolour in
hand, to the people as his own candidate.
In less than a week the new constitution
had been drawn out in detail. It was to
be " the direct expression of the rights
, of the French nation " ; the
rancc s j^^i^g became head of the state
^^* *-^ .• by the national will, and was to
Constitution •' , , ,,
swear to observe the constitu-
tion upon his accession. The two Chambers
were retained ; an elected deputy was
to sit for five years, and the limits of age
for the passive and the active franchise
were fixed respectively at thirty and
twenty five years. The right of giving
which
were indispensable to the existence of a
constitutional monarchy as conceived by
liberalism was reserved for the legislature.
Such were the provisions for trial by
jury of offences against the Press laws, for
the responsibility of Ministers,
<-M.^ I ''' V*^ for full liberty to teachers, for
Charles at , i . •• xi
_ . .... compulsory education m the
Rambouillet i , -^ , i r ,^
elementary schools, for the
yearly vote of the conscription, and so
forth. The deputies chosen at the last
election passed the proposals by a ferge
majority, 219 against 38. Of the peers,
eighty-nine were won over to their side ;
eighteen alone, including Chateaubriand,
the novelist of the romantic school,
supported the rights of Henry V.
■ In the meantime Charles had retired
from Saint Cloud to Rambouillet, retaining
the Guards and certain regiments which
had remained faithful ; he ^ once again
announced his abdication, and that of
Angoiileme, to the Duke of Orleans, and
ordered him to take up the government
in the name of Henry V. To this demand
Louis Philippe sent no answer ; he con-
fined his efforts to getting, his incon-
venient cousin out of the country, which
he already saw at his own feet. When his
representations produced no effect in this
direction, his adherents organised a march
of the National Guard to Rambouillet, a
movement which, though more like a
4869
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
The Death
of
Charles X.
holiday procession than an intimidating
movement, brought about the desired
result. The Bourbons and their parasites
showed not a spark of knightly spirit ;
not the smallest attempt was made to
teach the insolent Parisians a lesson, or
to let them feel the weight of the "Legiti-
mist " sword. With ostentatious delibera-
tion a move was made from
Rambouillet to Cherbourg
without awakening the smallest
sign of sympathy. Charles X.
betook himself for the moment to England.
On November 6th, 1836, he died in Gorz,
where the Duke of Angouleme also pissed
away on June 3rd, 1844. To the Duchess
Marie Caroline of Berry, the daughter of
Francis I. of Naples, remained the task of
stirring up the loyalists of La Vendee
against the government of the treacherous
Duke of Orleans, and of weaving, at the
risk of her life, intrigues for civil war in
France. In spite of her capture, Novem-
ber 7th, 1832, at Nantes, she might have
been a source of serious embarrassment to
Louis Philippe, and perhaps have turned
his later difficulties to the advantage of
her son, if she had not fallen into disfavour
with her own family, and with the arrogant
legitimists, on account of her secret mar-
riage with a son of the Sicilian prince of
Campofranco, the Conte Ettore Carlo
Lucchesi Palli, to whom she bore a son,
the later Duca della Grazia, while in
captivity at Blaye, near Bordeaux. Her
last son by her first marriage, the Count
of Chambord, contented himself through-
out his life with the proud consciousness
of being the legal King of France ;
however, the resources of the good Henry
were too limited for him to become
dangerous to any government.
France had thus relieved herself of the
Bourbons at little or no cost ; she was
now to try the experiment of living under
the House of Orleans, and under a con-
stitutional monarchy. The Republicans
were surprised at their deser-
''j''-? VI fion by Lafayette ; thev could
and its New j _ j j
Dynasty
not but observe that the mass
of people who were insensible ■=
to political conviction, and accustomed to
follow the influences of the moment, hailed
with acclamatiori the new constitution
adjusted by the prosperous Liberals. For
the moment they retired into private life
with ill-concealed expressions of dissatis-
faction, and became the nucleus for a
party of malcontents which was speedily
4870
reinforced by recruits from every direction.
" The King of the French," as the Duke
of Orleans entitled himself from August
9th, 1830, at the very outset of his govern-
ment stirred up a dangerous strife, and by
doing so undermined his own position,
which at first had seemed to be founded
upon the national will. He ought to have
honourably and openly enforced the
"Republican institutions" which, upon
Lafayette's theory, were meant to be the
environment of his royal power ; he ought
to have appeared as representing the will
of the nation, and should in any case have
left his fate exclusively in the hands of
the people. He attempted, however, to
secure his recognition from the great
Powers, to assert his claims to considera-
tion among the other dynasties of Europe,
and to gain their confidence for himself
and France. Prince Metternich supported
him in these attempts as soon as he ob-
served that the influences of the Left had
been nullified, and that the new king was
making a serious effort to suppress that
party. The Austrian chancellor fully re-
cognised that Louis Philippe, in preventing
the formation of a Republic
uccessors ^^ j^j^ intervention, had done
B K good service to the cause of
reaction ; he readily thanked
him for his erection of a constitutional
throne, whereby the monarchies had been
spared the necessity of again taking the
fi.eld against a Republican France. The
Bonapartists had proposed to bring for-
ward an opposition candidate to Louis
Philippe in the person of the highly gifted
and ambitious son of Napoleon L, "le fils
de I'homme," and the Archduchess Marie
Louise, who had been brought up under the
care of his grandfather in Vienna.
The untimely death of the excellent Duke
of Reichstadt, who succumbed to a gallop-
ing consumption on July 22nd, 1832, which
was not, as often stated, the result of
excessive self-indulgence. freed "the citizen-
king " from a danger which had threatened
to increase with every year. At the end
of August England recognised uncon-
ditionally and without reserve the new
government in France ; her example was
followed by Austria and Prussia, to the
extreme vexation of the Tsar Nicholas L
The House of Orleans might thus far con-
sider itself at least tolerated as the successor
of the French Bourbons.
Hans von Zvviedineck-Sudenhorst
Arthur Kleinschmidt
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE
AFTER
WATERLOO
VII
THE NEW REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
NATIONALIST AND CONSTITUTIONAL
MOVEMENTS IN THE 'THIRTIES
THE events of 1830 in Paris introduced
a new revolutionary period in Europe
which was to prodnce far more compre-
hensive and permanent transformations
than the Revolution of 1789. From that
date was broken the spell of the reaction-
ary theory which forbade all efforts for the
identification of monarchical and popular
rights, and demanded blind submission to
the decrees of the government.
This tyranny had been abolished by the
will of a people which, notwithstanding
internal dissensions, was united in its op-
position to the Bourbons. Thirty or forty
thousand men, with no military organisa-
tion and without preparation of any kind,
had defeated in street fighting twelve
thousand troops of the line, under the
command of an experienced general, a
marshal of the Grand Army of Napoleon I.
Though gained by bloodshed, the victory
was not misused or stamed by atrocities
„ of any kind; at no time was any
rancc attempt made to introduce
Under a New j-,- c i tt
T^ . a condition of anarchy. Upon
the capture of the Louvre by
bands of armed citizens, little damage had
been done, and the artistic treasures of the
palace had been safely removed from the
advance of the attacking party. In the
course of a fortnight a new constitution
had been organised l)y the joint action of
the leading citizens, a new regime had been
established in everj^ branch of the adminis-
tration, and a new dynasty had been
entrusted with supreme power. It had
been shown that revolutions did not of
necessity imply the destruction of social
order, but might also become a means to
the attainment of political rights.
Proof had thus been given that it was
possible for a people to impose its will
upon selfish and misguided governments,
even when protected by armed force.
The so-called conservative Great Powers
wcie not united among themselves, and
were therefore too weak to exclude a
nation from the exercise of its natural
right of self-government when that nation
was ready to stake its blood and treasure
on the issue. Other peoples living under
conditions apparently or actually intoler-
able might be tempted to follow
auses ^j_^-g gxample and to revolt.
of National t^, • 1 f r r • 1
P . . ihe weight of a foreign yoke,
a term implying not only the
rule of a conqueror king, but also that
of a foreigner legally in possession of the
throne, is more than ever galling if not
supported upon a community of interests.
The strong aversion which springs from
the contact of cha'"acters fundamentally
discordant can never be overcome even by
consideration of the mutual advantages
to be gained from the union, however great
these advantages may be. Repugnance
and animosity, purely sentimental in their
origin, and impossible of suppression by
any process of intellectual exercise, are
influences as important in national as in
individual life. Irritated ambition, exag-
gerated pride, the under and over estima-
tion of defects and advantages, are so
many causes of national friction, with
tremendous struggles and poHtical con-
vulsions as their consequence.
To prefer national sentiment to political
necessity is naturally an erroneous doctrine,
because contrary to the fundamental laws
of civilisation, which define man's task as
the conquest of natural forces by his in-
tellectual power for his own good. Yet
_ such a doctrine is based at
/n^ °.^.°*^!* least upon the ascertained
of Political r . , 1 , ,1 i 1-
Vitalit- • notwithstanding
' * * ^ ages of intellectual progress,
instinct is more powerful than reason, and
that the influences of instinct must be
remembered both by nations and individuals
in the pursuit of their several needs.
In nineteenth-century Europe the de-
velopment of inherent national powers was
4871
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
entirely justified, if only because for
centuries it had been neglected and
thwarted, or had adv^anced, if at all, by a
process highly irregular. Many European
countries had developed a political vitality
under, and as a consequence of, monarchical
government : and if this vitality was to
become the realisation of the popular will
it must first gain assurance of
, „ -its own value and nnportance,
In Frocess of , • ., • i . r u
rt . .. and acquire the right oi seli-
government. It was to be
tested in a series of trials which would prove
its vital power and capacity , or would at least
determine the degree of dependency which
should govern its relations to other forces.
• Hence it is that national revolutions are
the substratum of European political
history after the Vienna Congress. Hence
it is that cabinet governments were
gradually forced to undertake tasks of
national importance which had never
before even attracted their notice. Hence,
too, such nations as were vigorous and
capable of development must be organised
and tested before entering upon the
struggle for the transformation of society —
a struggle which ultimately overshadowed
national aspirations and became itself the
chief aim and object of civilised endeavour.
The oppression of an alien rule to which
Europe had been forced to submit was,
if not entirely overthrown, at any rate
shaken to its foundations. The tyranny
under which the Christian inhabitants of
the Balkan countries had groaned since
the middle of the fifteenth century, and
which had entirely checked every tendency
to progress, was now in process of dissolu-
tion. Among the Slav races of the Balkans
the Servians had freed themselves by their
own power, and had founded the begin-
nings of a national community. With
unexampled heroism, which had risen
almost to the point of self-immolation, the
Greeks had saved their nationality, and
had united a considerable portion of their
^ numbers into a self-contained
,, .. ,.^ state. In Germany and Italy the
Nationality , . , -^ , , -',,
c , national movement, together
with the political, had been
crushed in the name of the conservative
Great Powers and their " sacred " alliances ;
in this case it was only to be expected that
the influence of the French Revolution
would produce some tangible effect. It was,
however, in two countries, where systems
unusually artificial had been created
by the arbitrary action of dynasties
4872
and diplomatists, that these influences
became earliest and most permanently
operative : in the new kingdom of the
United Netherlands, and in Poland under
the Russian protectorate.
In 1813 and 1815, the Dutch had taken
an honourable share in the general struggle
for liberation from the French yoke ; they
had formed a constitution which, while
providing a sufficient measure of self-
government to the nine provinces of their
kingdom, united those nine into a uniform
body politic. They had abolished their
aristocratic republic, which had been
replaced by a limited monarchy ; the son
of their last hereditary stadtholder, Prince
William Frederic of Orange, had been
made king, with the title of William I.,
and so far everything had been done that
conservative diplomacy could possibly
desire. Conservatism, however, declined
to allow the Dutch constitution to continue
its course of historical development, and
proceeded to ruin it by the artificial
addition of Belgium — a proceeding which
may well serve as an example of the in-
competent bureaucratic policy of Prince
_ Metternich. The Orange king
e gian naturally regarded this unex-
Union with ^ , -^ °. . .
H II J pected accession of territory as
Holland ^ . . - ^
a recognition 01 his own high
capacity, and considered that he could best
serve the interests of the Great Powers by
treating the Belgians, whom he considered
as Frenchmen, as s'-.bjects of inferior rank.
Many disabilities were laid upon them by
the administration, which was chiefly in
the hands of Dutchmen. Dutch trade had
begun to revive, and Belgian industries
found no support in Holland. Day by day
it became clearer to the Belgians that
union with Holland was for them a disas-
trous mistake, and they proceeded to
demand separation. Not only by the
Catholic Conservative party, but also by
the Liberals, the difference of religious
belief was thought to accentuate the opposi-
tion of interests. The attitude of hostility
to their Protestant neighbours which the
Catholic provinces of the Netherlands had
adopted during 150 years of . Spanish
government had never been entirely given
up, and was now resumed, after a short
armistice, with much secret satisfaction.
Without any special preparation, the
ferment became visible on the occasion of
a performance of the " Revolution Opera "
completed in 1828, " The Dumb Girl of
Portici," by D.F. E.Auber, on August 25th,
THE NEW REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
1830. Personal intervention might even
then perhaps have saved the pohtical union
of the Netherland countries. The king,
however, made no honourable attempt to
secure the confidence of the Belgians, and
any possibility of agreement was removed
by the attempt to seize Brussels, which he
was persuaded to make through Prince
Frederic, -who had 10,000 men at his
command. On November loth, 1830, the
National Congress decided in favour of the
introduction of a constitutional monarchy,
and for the exclusion of the House of Orange
in favour of a new dynasty. Here, also, the
expression of popular will failed to coincide
with the hopes of the Revolution leaders,
w ho were inclined to republicanism.
The Liberal coteries, who were forced
in Belgium to act in concert with the
Church, preferred government under a
constitutional monarchy ; if
a republic were formed, an
ultramontane majority would
inevitably secure tyrannical
supremacy, and all freedom of
thought would be im.possible.
A royal family, if not so intel-
lectually incapable as the
Bourbons, would never consent
to bind itself hand and foot to
please any party, but, while
respecting the rights of the
minority, would unite with
them in opposition to any at-
tempted perversion of power.
Declaration
of Belgian
Independence
The British proposal to call a conference
at London for the adjustment of the
Dutch-Belgian difficulty was received
with general approbation. On December
20th the independence of Belgium was
i-ecognised by this assembly, and the
temporary government in Brussels was
invited through ambassadors
to negotiate with the confer-
ence. The choice of the new
king caused no great difficulty;
the claims of Orange, Orleans, and
Bavarian candidates were considered and
rejected, and the general approval fell
upon Prince Leopold George of Coburg,
a widower, who had been previously
married to Charlotte of England. On
June 4th, 1831, the National Congress
appointed him King of the Belgians, and
he entered upon his dignity in July.
It proved a more difficult
task to induce the King
of Holland to agree to an
acceptable compromise with
Belgium and to renounce his
claims to Luxemburg. In
the session of October 15th,
1 83 1, the conference passed
twenty-four articles, propos-
ing a partition of Luxemburg,
and fixing Belgium's yearly
contribution to the Nether-
land national debt at 8,400,000
gulden. On two occasions it
became necessary to send
The ready proposal of the william i. of Holland French troops as far as Ant-
Belgians to accept a monarch- Sj;;%^^:f^neVtht^f:°rTf ^erp to protect Belgium, a
ical government was received Napoleon, Belgium and Holland w-eak military power, from
with satisfaction b)^ the Great were united under one sovereign, reconqucst by Holland ; and
Powers, who were reluctantly Wiiiiam i., who abdicated inis40. ^^ ^^^^i occasion diplomatic
considering the necessity of opposing the negotiation induced the Dutch to retire
Revolution by force. The Tsar Nicholas
had already made up his mind to raise his
arm against the West ; his attention, how-
ever, was soon occupied by far more press-
ing questions within his own dominions.
Metternich and Frederic William III. were
disinclined, for financial reasons, to raise
. . . contingents of troops ; the
JUS mg e scantyforcesat the command
Dutch-Belgian r a . ■ • ^ ■
jj.j.,. J. 01 Austria were required m
Italy, where the Carbonari
were known to be in a state of ferment.
Louis Philippe decided the general direction
of his pohcy by declining to listen to the
Radical proposals for a union of Belgium
with France, and thereby strengthened
that confidence which he had already
won among the Conservative cabinets.
G 26 ^
from the land which they had occupied.
It was not until 1838 that peace between
Belgium and Holland was definitely
concluded ; King William had fruitlessly
strained the resources of his state to
the utmost, and for the increased severity
of the conditions imposed upon him he
had merely his own obstinacy to thank.
Belgium's share of the payment towards
the interest due upon the common national
debt was ultimately fixed at 5,000,000
gulden. On August 9th, 1832, King
Leopold married Louise of Orleans, the
eldest daughter of Louis PhiUppe ; though
not himself a Catholic, he had his sons
baptised into that faith, and thus became
the founder of a new Catholic dynasty in
Europe, which rapidly acquired importance
4873
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
through the pohtic and dignified conduct
of Leopold L What the Belgians had
gained without any unusual effort Poland
was unable to attain in spite of the
streams of blood which she poured forth
in her struggle with Russia. She had
been a nation on an equality with Russia,
with a constitution of her own ;
„ , , , her resistance now reduced
Poland under , j. ^.i. x- r
_ . her to the position ot a
Kussian j- ,i ■ j
^ . province oi the empire, de-
prived of all political rights,
and subjected to a government alike
despotic and arbitrary. The popular will
was unable to find expression, for the
nation which it inspired had been warped
and repressed by a wholly unnatural
course of development ; there was no
unity, no social organism, to support
the expansion of classes and professions.
Theie were only two classes struggling
for definite aims — the great territorial
nobility, who were attracted by the
possibility of restoring their exaggerated
powers, which had depended on the
exclusion of their inferiors from legal
rights ; and the small party of intelligent
men among the Schlactha, the petty
nobility, civil officials, military officers,
teachers, etc., who had identified them-
selves with the principles of democracy,
and were attempting to secure their
realisation. Though its purity of . blood
was almost indisputable, the Polish race
had sunk so low that the manufacturing
and productive element of the population,
the craftsmen and agricultural workers,
had lost all feeling of national union and
had nothing to hope from a national state.
Averse from exertion, incapable of
achievement, and eaten up by preposter-
ous self-conceit, Polish society, for centuries
the sole exponent of national culture, was
inaccessible to the effect of any deep moral
awakening; hence national movement in
the true sense of the term was impossible.
At the outset the Polish Revolution was
marked by sojiie , display of
resolution and enthusiasm. It
The Poles
Strike for
Freedom
was, however, a movement
animated rather by ill-feeling
and injured pride than originating in the
irritation caused by intolerable oppression.
It is true that the government was for the
most part in the hands of the Russians,
but there is no reason to suppose that it
was in any way more unjust or more cor-
rupt than the monarchical republic that
had passed away. It cannot be said that
4874
the Russian administration prevented the
Poles from recognising the defective re-
sults of their social development, from
working to remove those defects, to relieve
the burdens of the labouring classes, and
to found a community endowed with some
measure of vitality, the advantages of
which were plainly to be seen in the neigh-
bouring Prussian districts. The moderate
independence which Alexander I. had
left to the Polish National Assembly was
greater than that possessed by the Prussian
provincial assemblies. The Poles possessed
the means for relieving the legislature
of the arrogance of the nobles, whom no
monarchy, however powerful, had been
able to check, and thus freeing the people
from the weight of an oppression far
more intolerable than the arbitrary rule
of individuals, officials, and commanders.
Yet, was there ever a time when the much-
lauded patriotism of the Poles attempted
to deal with questions of this nature ?
So long as they failed to recognise their
duty in this respect, their patriotism,
founded upon a vanity which had risen
to the point of monomania, was valueless
^^ r k ^^ *^^ nation at large. Events
Fotuh P'""^^^ that the struggle be-
n , ^. tween Poland and Russia
Revolution , ■, ■, -11
cannot be described as purpose-
less. The revolutionary party had long
been quietly working, and when the pro-
gress of events in France became known,
was immediately inflamed to action. Its
first practical steps were generally attended
with a high measure of success.
After the storming of the Belvedere,
November 29th, 1830, occupied by the
governor, the Grand Duke Constantine,
that personage was so far intimidated as
to evacuate Warsaw with his troops. On
December 5th, 1830, a provisional govern-
ment was already in existence. On
January 25th, 1831, the Assembly declared
the deposition of the House of Romanoff,
and in February a Polish army of 78,000
men was confronting 100,000 Russians,
who had been concentrated on the fron-
tiers of Old Poland under Diebitsch-
Sabalkanski, and his general staff officer,
Karl Friedrich, Count of Toll. -These
achievements wei'e the unaided work of
the nobility; their .military organisation
had been quickly and admirably successful.
Their commander-in-chief , Prince Michael
Radziwill, who had served under Thaddeus
Kosciuszko and Napoleon, had several
bold and capable leaders at his disposal.
THE NEW REVOLUTIOxNARY PERIOD
If at the same time a popular rising had
taken place throughout the country, and
a people's war in the true sense of the word
had been begun, it is impossible to estimate
the extent of the difficulties with which
the Russian Government would have had
to deal. Notwithstanding the victories of
Bialolenka and Grochow, February 24th
and 25th, 1831, Diebitsch did not dare to
advance upon Warsaw, fearing to be
blockaded in that town ; he waited for
reinforcements, and even began negotia-
tions, considering his pDsition extremely
unfavourable. However, Volhynia and
Podolia took no serious part in the revolt.
The deputies of -the Warsaw government
found scattered adherents in every place
they visited ; but the spirit of enterprise
and the capacity for struggle disappeared
upon their departure. It
was only in Lithuania
that any public rising on an
extensive scale took place.
On May 26th, Diebitsch,
in spite of a heroic defence,
inflicted a severe defeat at
Ostrolenka upon the main
Polish army under Jan
Boncza Skrzynecki. Hence-
forward the military advan-
tage was decidedly on the
side of the Russians. The
outbreak of cholera, to
which Diebitsch succumbed
on June loth, might perhaps
have produced a turn of
fortune favourable to the
Poles. Count Ivan Feod-
vitch Paskevitch-Erivanski,
who now assumed the chief
command, had but 50,000
men at his disposal, and would hardly
have dared to advance from Pultusk if
the numerous guerrilla bands of the
Poles had done their duty and had been
p.operly supported by the population.
Never, however, was there any general
rising ; terrified by the ravages of the
p cholera, the mob declined
_ H h ^^ obey the authorities, and
^. ^ ^ their patriotism was not proof
against their panic. Skrzynecki
and his successor, Henry DernlDinski,
had 50,000 men under their colours
when they attempted to resist the
advance of Paskevitch upon Warsaw ;
but within the capital itself a feud had
broken out between the aristocrats and
the democrats, who were represented
End of the
Polish Dream
of Freedom
KING OF THE BELGIANS
When the independence of Belgium was
recognised, the choice of a new king fell
upon Prince Leopold George of Coburg,
and on July 4th, isyi, the National Con-
gress appointed him King of the Belgians.
among the five members of the civil
government by the historian Joachim
Lelevel, after the dictatorship ol Joseph
Chlopicki had not only abolished but
utterly shattered the supremacy of the
nobles. The government, at the head of
which was the senatorial president. Prince
Adam George Czartoryiski,
was forced to resign, and the
purely democratic adminis-
tration which succeeded fell
into general disrepute. Military operations
suffered from lack of concerted leadership.
The storming of Warsaw on September 6th
and yth, carried out by Paskevitch and
Toll, with 70,000 Russians agaiftst 40,000
Poles, decided the struggle. The smaller
divisions still on foot, under the Genoese
Girolamo Ramorino, Mathias Rybinski,
Rozycki, and others, met
with no support from the
population, and were
speedily forced to retreat
beyond the frontier.
The Polish dream of free-
dom was at an end. The
Kingdom of Poland, to
which Alexander I. had
granted nominal independ-
ence, became a Russian
province in 1832 by a
constitutional edict of Feb-
ruary 26th ; henceforward
its history was a history of
oppression and stern and
cruel tyranny. However,
the consequent suffering
failed to produce any puri-
fying effect upon the nation,
though European liberal-
ism, with extraordinary
unanimity, manifested a sympathy which,
in Germany, rose to the point of ridicu-
lous and hysterical sentimentalism.
It was by conspiracies, secret unions, and
political intrigues of every kind, by degrad-
ing mendicancy and sponging, that these
" patriots " thought to recover freedom
and independence for their native land.
Careless of the consequences and untaught
by suffering, in 1846 they instigated
revolts in Posen and in the little free state
of Cracow, which was occupied by Austria
at the request of Russia, and eventually
incorporated with the province of Galicia.
The psasant revolt, which was charac-
terised by unexampled ferocity and
cruelty, made it plain to the world at
large that it was not the Russian, the
4875
SkrzyHecki
Paskevitch
Constantine
LEADERS IN THE POLISH - RUSSIAN WARS
General Jan Boncza Skrzynecki was in command of the main Polish array at Ostrolenka, where it suffered defeat ;
Count Ivan Feodvitch Paskevitch-Erivanski commanded the Russian troops opposed to Skrzynecki and Dembinski,
crushing the Poles and taking Warsaw ; while the Grand Duke Constantine, brother of the Tsar of Russia and governor
of Warsaw, after the storming of the Belvedere on November 29th, 1830, was so far intimidated as to evacuate Warsaw.
Austrian, or the Prussian whom the
Pohsh peasant considered his deadly
enemy and oppressor, but the Pohsh noble.
The revolutionary party in connection
with the Revolution of July brought
little to pass in Italy except abortive
conspiracies and a general state of disturb-
ance. The nation as a whole was inspired
by no feeling of nationalism ; the moderate
party kept aloof from the intrigues of the
Carbonari, who f
continued their
activities in
secret after the
subjugation of
Piedmont and
Naples by the
Austrians in
1821. The chief
Austrian adher-
ents were to be
found in the
Church states ;
there, however,
an opposition
union, that of
the"Sanfedists,"
had been formed,
with the counten-
ance of the
papacy. While striving for the maintenance
of the papal power and the strengthen-
ing of religious feeling, the party occu-
pied itself with the persecution of all
Liberals, and rivalled the Carbonari in the
use of poison and dagger for the attain-
ment of its ends. Cardinal Consalvi had
availed himself of the help of the Sanfe-
dists ; but he allowed their power to extend
4876
DUKE OF BRUNSWICK KING OF HANOVER
When Charles, Duke of Brunswick, proved his incompetence, his
brother William, at the request of Prussia, offered himself for the high
office and was received with acclamation. King of Hanover, Ernest
Augustus exhibited a weak narrow-mindedness by refusing the con-
stitution between the nobility and the representatives of the peasants.
only SO far as it might be useful for the
furtherance of his political objects. How-
ever, under the government of Pope Leo
XIL, 1823-1829, the influence of the
party increased considerably, and led the
Cardinal Rivarola, the legate of Ravenna,
to perpetrate cruelties upon the Carbonari
in Faenza, a policy which contributed to
increase the general ill-feeling with which
Italy regarded the futile administration
of the papacy.
Pius VIII.,
1829-1830, . and
Cardinal Albani
supported the
union of the San-
fedists ; their
continued at-
tempts at aggran-
disement resulted
in the temporary
success of the
revolution in
Bologna. This
movement had
been long pre-
pared, and broke
out on February
4th, 1 83 1, when
Menotti in Parma
gave the signal for action. The Duke of
Modena, Francis IV., imprisoned Menotti
in his own house ; feeling himself, however,
too weak to deal with the movement, he tied
into Austrian territory with his battalion
of soldiers, and hastened to Vienna to
appeal to Metternich for help. His example
was followed by Pope Gregory XVI.,
elected on February 2nd, 1831, formerly
THE NEW REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
Bartolommeo Cappelleri, general of the
Camaldulensian (.rder, whose supremacy
was no longer recognised by the Umbrian
towns which had broken into revolt, by the
legation, or by the Marks.
The Austrian chancellor thought it advis-
able to maintain at any cost the protec-
torate exercised by the emperor in Italy ;
notwithstanding the threats of France, who
declared that she would regard the advance
of Austrian troops into tlie Church states
as a casus belU, .
Pius VII.
he occupied
Bologna, March
2ist, after seizing
F e r r a r a and
Parma in the
first days of
March. Ancona
was also forced
to surrender ; in
this town the
provisional
government of
the R o m a g n a
had taken refuge,
together with
Louis Napoleon
Bonaparte, son
of the King of
Holland and of
Hortense Beau-
harnais, who first
came into con-
nection with the
revolutionary
party at this
date. The task
of the Austrians
was then brought
to completion.
On July 15th
they retired from
the papal states,
but were obliged
to return on
January 24th,
1832, in conse-
quence of the new revolt which had been
brought about by the cruelties of the
papalini, or papal soldiers. Louis Philippe
attempted to lend some show of support
to the Itahan Liberal party by occupying
Ancona at the same time, February 22nd.
Neither France nor Austria could^ oblige
the Pope to introduce the reforms which
he had promised into his administration.
The ruHng powers of the Curia were appre-
hensive of the reduction of their revenues,
and steadily thwarted all measures of
reorganisation. When Gregory XVL en-
listed two Swiss regiments for the main-
tenance of peace and order, the foreign
troops evacuated his district in 1838.
In Germany the effects of the July
Revolution varied according to differences
of political condition, and fully represented
the divergences of feeling and opinion
prevailing in the separate provinces.
There was no uniformity of thought, nor
had any tendency
Leo X II.
Pius VIII.
A GROUP OF NINETEENTH CENTURY POPES
During tlie restless period in the first half of last century, St. Peter's
Chair was occupied in turn by the Popes whose portraits are given
above. Pius VII. died in IS-'.'i, and was succeeded by Leo XII. At his
death, Pius VIII. became Pope, ruling only from March, 1829, till
November, 1830. He was followed by the reactionary Gregory XVI.
to nationalist
movement be-
come apparent.
Liberal and Radi-
cal groups were
to be found side
by side, divided
by no strict fron-
tier line ; more-
over, operations
in common were
inconceivable, for
no common ob-
ject of endeavour
had yet b e e h
found. In par-
ticular federal
provinces special
circumstances
gave rise to re-
volts intended to
produce a change
in the relations
subsisting be-
tween the rulers
and the ruled.
Brunswick was
a scene of events
as fortunate for
that state as they
were rapid in
development.
Charles, Duke of
Brunswick, who
had begun his
rule in 1823 as
a youth of nineteen years of age,
showed himself totally incompetent to
fulfil the duties of his high position. He
conducted himself towards his relations
of England and Hanover with an utter
want of tact ; and towards his subjects,
whose constitutional rights he declined
to recognise, he was equally haughty and
dictatorial. After the events of July he
had returned home from Paris, where he
had spent his time in the grossest pleasures.
4877
Gregory XVI.
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
and immediately opposed the nobles and
the citizens as ruthlessly as ever. Dis-
turbances broke out in consequence on
September 7th, ,1830, and so frightened
the cowardly libertine that he evacuated
his capital with the utmost possible speed
and deserted his province. At the request
of Prussia, his brother William, who had
taken over the principality of
D k * ^™ ^^^' o^^i'^cl himself to the peopje
„ • k '^^ Brunswick, who received
him with acclamation. Not-
withstanding the opposition of Metternich
in the diet, the joint action of Prussia and
England secured WilUam's recognition
as duke on December 2nd, after Charles
had made himself the laughing-stock of
Europe by a desperate attempt to cross
the frontier of Brunswick with a small
body of armed ruffians.
The people of Hesse forced their elector,
William II., to summon the representatives
of the Orders in September, 1830, and to
assent to the constitution which they
speedily drew up. On January 8th, 1831,
the elector, in the presence of the Crown
Prince Frederic William, signed the docu-
ments and handed them to the Orders ;
however, the people of Hesse were unable
to secure constitutional government. They
declined to allow the elector to leside
among them in Cassel, with his mistress,
Emilie Ortlopp, whom he made Countess
of Reichenbach in 1821, and afterwards
Countess of Lessonitz ; they forced him to
withdraw to Hanover and to appoint the
Crown Prince as co-regent, September
30th, 1831, but found they had merely
fallen out of the frying-pan into the fire.
In August, 1 83 1, Frederic William I.
married Gertrude Lehmann, nee Falken-
stein, the wife of a lieutenant, who had
been divorced b}^ her husband in Bonn,
made Countess of Schaumburg in 1831,
and Princess of Hanau in 1853 ; as a
result he quarrelled with his mother, the
Princess Augusta of Prussia, and with
• the estates, who espoused the
c yran ^^^^^ q| ^j^g iniured electress.
He was a malicious and stub-
born tyrant, who broke his
plighted word, deliberately introduced
changes into the constitution through his
Minister, Hans Daniel von Hassenpflug,
whom he supported in his struggle with
the estates until the Minister also insulted
him and opposed his effprts at unlimited
despotism. Hassenpflug left the service
of Hesse in July, 1837, first entering the
4878
Frederic
William
civil service in Sigmaringen, November,
1838, then that of Luxemburg, June,
1839, ultimately taking a high place in the
public administration of Prussia, 1841.
The people of Hesse then became con-
vinced that their position had rather
deteriorated than otherwise ; the Landtag
Was -continually at war with the govern-
ment, and was repeatedly dissolved. The
Liberals went to great trouble to claim their
rights in endless appeals and proclamations
to the Federal Council, but were naturally
and invariably the losers in the struggle
with the unscrupulous regent, who became
elector and gained the enjoyment of the
revenues from the demesnes and the trust
property by the death of his father on
November 20th, 1847. The Liberals were
not anxious to resort to any violent
steps which might have provoked the
Federal Council to interference of an un-
pleasant kind ; they were also unwilling
to act in concert with the Radicals.
Even more helpless and timorous
was the behaviour of the Hanoverians
when their king, Ernest Augustus, who
had contracted debts amounting to
several million thalers as Duke
of Cumberland, was so
narrow-minded as to reject
the constitution which had
been arranged after long and difficult
negotiations between the nobility and the
representatives of the peasants. Seven
professors of Gottingen, Jakob and Wil-
helm Grimm, . Dahlmann, Weber and
Gervinus, Ewald and Albrecht, protested
against the patent of November ist, 1837,
which absolved the state officials from
their oaths of fidelity to the constitution.
The state prosecution and merciless dis-
missal of these professors aroused a general
outcry throughout Germany against the
effrontery and obstinacy of the Guelphs ;
none the less, the estates, who had been
deprived of their rights, were too timid
to make a bold and honourable stand
against the powers oppressing them. A
number of the electors consented, in
accordance with the decrees of 1819, which
were revived by the king, to carry through
the elections for the General Assembty of
the estates, thereby enabling the king to
maintain that in form at least his state
was constitutionally governed in the spirit
of the Act of Federation. In vain did that
indomitable champion of the popular
rights, Johann Karl Tertern Stiive, burgo-
master of Osnabriick, protest before the
The brave
Professors of
Gottingen
THE NEW REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
tendencies proved incompatible with the
favour which the Saxon Court attempted
to show the CathoUc Church, the two
princes considered in 1843 that they were
able to dispense with his services. The
great rise in prosperity
manifested in every de-
partment of public life
under his government was
invariably ascribed to his
wise statesmanship
and his great capacity.
Not entirely discon-
nected are those political
phenomena which
occurred in Baden, Hesse-
Darmstadt, and the
Bavarian Palatinate, as
results of the changes
which had been brought
to pass in France. In
these provinces it became
plain that liberalism, and
the legislation it promoted,
THE BROTHERS GRIMM were mcapablc of satisfy-
Jakob and Wilhelni Grimm, two prominent mg tnC people aS a WnoIC,
educationists of Gottingen, were among- tiie qj- Qf creating a bodv
J --.- professors dismissed in 1837 for protesting re ■ ,1 .
Frederic against the absolution of state officials from polltlC SUtnCieutly StrOUg
their oaths of fidelity to the constitution. . SCCUre the prOgrCSS
of sound economic development. Nowhere
throughout Germany was the parlia.-
mentary spirit so native to the soil
as in Baden, where the democrats, under
the leadership of the Freiburg professors
Karl von Rotteck
Federal Council against the illegal imposi-
tion of taxes by the Hanoverian govern-
ment . The prevailing disunion enabled the
faithless ruler to secure his victory ; the
compliance of his subjects gave a fairly
plausible colouring to his
arbitrary explanation of
these unconstitutional
acts ; his policy was in-
terpreted as a return to
the old legal constitution,
a return adopted, and
therefore ratified, by the
estates themselves.
The Saxons had
displayed far greater in-
clination to riot and con-
spiracy ; however, in that
kingdom the transition
from class privilege to
constitutional govern-
ment was completed
without any serious nap-
ture of the good relations
between the people and
the government ; both
King Anthony and
his nephew
Augustus II., whom he
had appointed co-regent, possessed suffi-
cient insight to recognise the advantages
of a constitution ; the co-operation of
large sections of the community would
define the distribution of those burdens
which state ne-
cessities inevit-
ably laid upon
the shoulders of
individuals.
They supported
the Minister
Bernhard August
of Lindenau, one
of the wisest
statesmen in
Germany under
the old reaction-
ary regime, when
he introduced the
constitution of
Sei)tember 4th,
1 83 1, which pro-
vided a sufficient
measure of repre-
sentation for the citizen classes, and
protected the peasants from defraudation ;
they continued their support as long
as he possessed the confidence of the
Second Chamber. When his progressive
AUGUST OF LINDENAU
and Karl Theodor
W e 1 c k e r, the
Heidelberg jurist
Karl Joseph
Mitterm.ayer, and
the Mannheim
high justice
Johann Adam
von Itzstein, had
become pre-
dominant in the
Second Chamber.
The constitu-
tions of Bavaria
and Hesse-Darm-
stadt gave full
licence to the
expression of
pubHc opinion in
KARL THEODOR WELCKER
"One of the wisest statesmen in Germany," Bernhard August of
Lindenau introduced the constitution of September -tth, 1831, which
provided a sufficient measure of representation for the citizen classes,
and protected the peasants. Karl Theodor Welcker was one of the
Freiburg professors who became predominant in the Second Chamber.
the Press and at public meetings. But hberal-
ism was impressed with the insufficiency of
the means provided for the expression and
execution of the popular will ; it did not
attempt to create an administrative policy
4879
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
which might have brought it into, line
with the practical needs of the poorer
classes. It hoped to attain its political
ends by unceasing efforts to limit the
power of the Crown and by extending the
possibilities of popular representation.
The result was distrust on the part of the
dynasties^ the government
, officials, and the classes in im-
Discontent
Encourageii
by the Press
mediate connection with them,
while the discontented classes,
who were invariably too numerous even
in districts so blessed by Nature as these,
were driven into the arms of the Radical
agitators, who had immigrated from
France, and in particular from Strassburg.
The very considerable freedom allowed
to the Press had fostered the growth of a
large number of obscure publications,
which existed only to preach the rejection
of all governmental measures, to discredit
the monarchical party, and to exasperate
the working classes against their more
prosperous superiors. The numerous
Polish refugees who were looking for some
convenient and exciting form of occupation
requiring no great expenditure of labour
were exactly the tools and emissaries
required by the leaders of the revolutionary
movement, and to them the general
sympathy with the fate of Poland had
opened every door. The first disturbances
broke out in Hesse -Darmstadt at the end
of September, 1830, as the result of incor-
poration in the Prussian Customs Union,
and were rapidly suppressed by force of
arms ; the animosity of the mob was, how-
ever, purposely fostered and exploited by
the chiefs of a democratic conspiracy who
„, ^ were preparing for a general
1 he Germans ■ • t \t -^o^^ 4-\ t> j-
rismg. In May, 1832, the l<adi-
reparing or ^^^^ prepared a popular meet-
ing at the castle of Hambach
near Neustadt on the Hardt. No disguise
was made of their intention to unite the
people for the overthrow of the throne and
the erection of a democratic republic. The
unusual occurrence of a popular mani-
festation proved a great attraction. The
turgid outpourings, seasoned with violent
invectives against every form of modera-
tion, emanating from those crapulous
scribblers who were transported with
delight at finding in the works of Heinrich
Heine and Lewis Baruch Bornes induce-
ments to high treason and anti-monarch-
ical feeling, inflamed minds only too
accessible to passion and excitement. As
vintage advanced feeling grew higher, and
attracted the students, including the
various student corps which had regained
large numbers of adherents, the remem-
brance of the persecutions of the 'twenties
having been gradually obliterated.
At Christmas-time, 1832, an assembly of
the accredited representatives of these
corps in Stuttgart was induced to accede
to the proposal to share in the forthcoming
popular rising. The result was that after
the emeute set on foot by the democrats
in Frankfort-on-Main on April 3rd, 1833,
when an attempt was made to seize the
federal palace and the bullion there stored,
Tk T -ki it was the students who chiefly
Fafe of" ^^^^ ^^ P^y ^'^^' ^^^^^^ irrespon-
ii.* \f J i sibility and lack of common
the Students •'., . .
sense ; the measures of intimi-
dation and revenge undertaken by the
German Government at the demand of
Metternich fell chiefly and terribly on the
heads of the German students. No dis-
tinction was made between the youthful
aberrations of these coips, which were
inspired merely by an overpowering sense
of national feeling, and the bloodthirsty
designs of malevolent intriguers — for ex-
ample, of the priest Friedrich Ludwig
Weidig in Butzbach — or the unscrupulous
folly of revolutionary monomaniacs, such
as the Gottingen privat-dozent Von
Rauschenplat.
Hundreds of young men were consigned
for years to the tortures of horrible and
pestilential dungeons by the cold-blooded
cruelty of red-tape indifferentism. The
punitive measures of justice then enforced,
far from creating a salutary feeling of
fear, increased the existing animosity,
as is proved by tlie horrors of the Re-
volution of 1848.
4880
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE
AFTER
WATERLOO
VIII
THE WELDING OF THE STATES
THE GERMAN FEDERATION AND
THE GERMAN CUSTOMS UNION
P\URING the period subsequent to the
■^ Congress of Vienna a highly import-
ant modification in tlie progress of German
history took place, in spite of the fact
that such expressions of popular feeling as
had been manifested through the existing
constitutional outlets had effected but
little alteration in social and political life.
This modification was not due to the diet,
which, properly speaking, existed to pro-
tect the common mterests of the German
states collectively. It was the work of
the Prussian Government, in which was
concentrated the keenest insight into the
various details of the public administration,
and which had therefore become a centre
of attraction for minds inclined to political
thought and for statesmen of large ideals.
In Germany the political movement had
been preceded by a period of economic
^ . progress ; the necessary pre-
„ iimmary to such a movement,
Progress j. • i i r .
. J a certam level of prosperity
m Germany , ^ • , i j .n
and financial power, had thus
already been attained. This achievement
was due to the excellent qualities of most
of the German races, to their industry,
their thrift, and their godliness. The capi-
tal necessary to the economic development
of a people could only be gradually re-
covered and amassed after the enormous
losses of the French war, by petty land-
owners and the small handicraftsmen.
However, this unconscious national co-
operation would not have availed to break
the fetters in which the economic life of
the nation had been chained for 300 years
by provincial separatism. Of this oppres-
sion the disunited races were themselves
largely unconscious ; what one considered
a burden, his neighbour regarded as an
advantage. Of constitutional forms, of the
process of economic development, the
nation severally and collectively had long
since lost all understanding, and it was
reserved for those to spread such know-
ledge who had acquired it by experience
and intellectual toil. These two qualifi-
cations were wanting to the Austrian
Government, which had formed the German
_,. , Federation according to its
1 he Ignorance •, t- j.i 1
J p r own ideas. Fven those who
j>l ,. . . admire the diplomatic skill of
Prince Metternich must admit
that the Austrian chancellor displayed sur-
prising ignorance and ineptitude in dealing
with questions of internal administration.
His interest was entirely concentrated
upon matters of immediate importance to
the success of his foreign policy, upon the
provision of money and recruits ; of the
necessities, the merits, and the defects of
the inhabitants of that empire to which
he is thought to have rendered such
signal service, of the forces dormant in
the state over which he ruled, he had
not the remotest idea.
The members of the bureaucracy whom
he had collected and employed were, with
few exceptions, men of limited intelligence
and poor education ; cowardly and subser-
vient to authority, they were so incompe-
tent to initiate any improvement of
existing circumstances that the first pre-
liminary to any work of a generally
beneficial nature was the task of breaking
down their opposition. The Archduke
John, the brother of the Emperor Francis,
. a man fully conscious of the
- V^ " ^ forces at work beneath the sur-
Jonn as J- r ^ j j ■
„ , face, a man of steady and persis-
Reformer , . re j
tent energy, suiiered many a
bitter experience in his constant attempts
to improve technical and scientific training,
to benefit agriculture and the iron trades,
co-operative enterprises, and savings banks.
The Emperor Francis and his powerful
Minister had one aversion in common,
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
which imphecl unconditional opposition to
every form of human endeavour — an
aversion to pronounced abiUty. Metter-
nich's long employment of Gentz is to be
explained by the imperative need for an
intellect so pliable and so reliable in its
operations, and also by the fact that Gentz
would do anything for money ; for a
position of independent activity, for a
chance of realismg his own
views or aims, he never had
any desire. Men of indepen-
dent thought, such as Johann
Philipp of Wessenberg, were
never permanently retained,
even for foreign service. This
statesman belonged to the
little band of Austrian officials
who entertained theories and
proffered suggestions upon the
future and the tasks before
the Hapsburg monarchy, its
position within the Federation,
and upon further federal
developments. His opinion
upon questions of federal
Conception
of the State
FREDERIC WILLIAM IV.
Crowned Kingr of Prussia at
.. , . Ill Konig-sberg in 1840, he promised
reform was disregarded, and the introduction of reforms, which
he fell into bad odour at the were not carried out. Becoming
London conference, when his '"^^"^ '" ^^^^' ^^ ^'""^ ^" i^*^i-
convictions led him to take an independent onslaught.
position with reference to the quarrel
between Belgium and Holland.
The fate of the German Federation lay
entirely in the hands of Austria, and
Austria is exclusively responsible for the
^ .. ... ultimate fiasco of the Federa-
Metternich s , ■ i • i, i j_ ■\^ ^
tion, which she eventually de-
serted. The form and character
of this alhance, as also its after
development, were the work of Metter-
nich. People and Government asked for
bread, and he gave them a stone. He
conceived the state to be merely an insti-
tution officered and governed by police.
When more than twenty millions of
Germans declared themselves a commercial
corporation with reference to the world at
large, with the object of equalising the
conditions of commercial competition, of
preventing an overwhelming influx of
foreign goods, and of opening the markets
of the world to their own producers —
in that memorable year of 1834 the
Austrian Government, after inviting the
federal representatives to months of con-
ferences in Vienna, could find nothing of
more pressing importance to bring forward
than proposals for limiting the effec-
tiveness of the provincial constitutions as
4882
compared with the state governments, for
increased severity in the censorship of the
Press, and the surveillance of university
students and their political activity.
Student interference in political life
is utterly unnecessary, and can only
be a source of mischief ; but Metternich
and his school were unable to grasp
the fact that such interference ceases so
soon as political action takes a
practical turn. If Austria
were disappointed in her ex-
pectations of the German
federal states, her feelings
originated only in the fact that
Prussia, together with Bava-
ria, Wiirtemberg, Saxony, and
Baden, entertained loftier
views than she herself upon the
nature of State existence and
the duties attaching thereto.
The kingdom of Prussia had
by no means developed in
accordance with the ex-
pectations entertained by
Metternich in 1813 and
1815 ; it was a miUtary
state, strong enough to
repel any possible Russian
but badly " rounded off,"
and composed of such heterogeneous
fragments of territory that it could not
in its existing form aspire to predominance
in Germany. Prussia was as yet un-
conscious of her high calling ; she was
wholly spellbound by Austrian federal
policy, but none the less she had com-
pleted a task incomparably the most im-
portant national achievement since the
attainment of religious freedom — the foun-
dation of the pan-Germanic Customs Union.
Cotta, the greatest German book and
newspaper publisher, and an able and
important business man, had been able to
shield the loyal and thoroughly patriotic
views of Lewis L of Bavaria from the in-
roads of his occasionally violent paroxysms
of personal vanity, and had
secured the execution of the
Inauguration
of a Federal » . . -at at. o
^ . ,, . Act of May 27th, 1820, pro-
Customs Union ... r 1
vidmg for a commercial
treaty between Bavaria- Wiirtemberg and
Prussia with Hesse-Darmstadt, the first
two states to join a federal customs union.
The community of interests between North
and South Germany, in which only far-
seeing men, such as Friedrich List, the
national economist, had believed, then
became so incontestable a fact that the
THE GERMAN FEDERATION AND CUSTOMS UNION
commercial treaty took the form of a
customs union, implying an area of uni-
form economic interests.
The "Central German Union," which was
intended to dissolve the connection between
Prussia and South Germany, and to neu-
tralise the advantages thence
o apse o derived, rapidly collapsed. It
the Central , i ii -
^ ,, . became clear that economic
Oerman Union ... , .,
mterests are stronger than
political, and the dislike amounting to aver-
sion of Prussia, entertained by the Central
German governments became friendliness
as soon as anything was to be gained by a
change of attitude — in other words, when
it seemed possible to fill the state ex-
chequers. The electorate of Hesse had
taken the lead in opposing the Hohen-
zollern policy of customs federation ; as
early as 183 1 she recognised that her
policy of commercial isolation spelt ruin.
A similar process led to the dissolution of
the so-called " Einbeck Convention " of
March 27th, 1830, which had included
Hanover, Brunswick, Oldenburg, and the
electorate of Hesse. Saxony joined Prussia
on March 30th, as did Thiiringen on May
nth, 1833 ; on May 22nd, 1833, the
Bavarian- Wiirtemberg and the Prussian
groups were definitely united. On
January 1st, 1834, the union included
eighteen German states, with 23,000.000
inhabitants ; in 1840 these numbers had
risen to twenty-three states with 27,000,000
inhabitants. In 1841 the union was
joined by Bninswick, and by Luxemburg
in 1842 ; Hanover did not come in until
September 7th, 185 1, when she ceased to
be an open market for British goods. The
expenses of administration and of guard-
ing the frontiers were met from a common
fund. The profits were divided among the
states within the union in proportion
to their population. In 1834 the profits
amounted to fifteen silver groschen, one
shilling and sixpence per head ; in
1840, to more than twenty silver
groschen, two shillings.
In the secondary and petty states
public opinion had been almost entirely
opposed to such unions. Prussia was
afraid of the Saxon manufacturing indus-
tries, and Leipzig foresaw the decay of her
great markets. The credit of completing
this great national achievement belongs
almost exclusively to the governments
THE STATELY COLOGNE CATHEDRAL I'hotochroma
The foundations of this magnificent structure, regarded as one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture extant, were
laid in 124s ; the work was renewed in 1S42, and in 18S0 the building- was completed according to the original plan.
4883
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
and to the expert advisers whom they
called in. Austria now stood without
the boundary of German economic unity.
Metternich recognised too late that he
had mistaken the power of this union.
Proposals were mooted for the junction of
Austria with the allied German states,
but met with no response from the
^. o, . industrial and manufacturing
I he Shadow • , , i-i ^ ■ • i
-, „ .... , interests. 1 he people miagmed
of Political ^, ^ ^r 1 •■ •
Q .. that a process ot division was
Separation /T u • i i
even then beginning which
was bound to end in political separation ;
but the importance of Prussia, which
naturally took the lead in conducting the
business of the union, notwithstanding
the efforts of other members to preserve
their own predominance and independence,
became obvious even to those who had
originally opposed the conclusion of the
convention. The Wiirtemberg deputy
and author, Paul Pfizer, recognised the
necessity of a political union of the
German states under Prussian hegemony,
and saw that the separation of Austria
was inevitable.
In 1845, in his " Thoughts upon Rights,
State and Church," he expounded the
programme which was eventually adopted
by the whole nation, though only after
long struggles and severe trials. " The
conditions," he there said, " of German
policy as a whole seem to point to a national
alliance with Prussia and to an inter-
national alliance with the neighbouring
Germanic states and with Austria, which
is a first-class Power even apart from
Germany. There can be no question of
abolishing all political connection between
Germany and Austria. In view of the
danger threatening Germany on the east
and west, nothing would be more foolish ;
no enemy or rival of Germany can be
allowed to become paramount in Bohemia
and Central Germany. But the complete
incorporation of Bohemia, Moravia, and
Austria, together with that of the Tyrol,
Carinthia, and Styria, would
be less advantageous to Ger-
many than the retention of
these countries by a power
connected with her by blood relationship
and an offensive and defensive alliance, a
power whose arm can reach beyond the
Alps on the one hand, and to the Black
Sea on the other."
It was now necessary for Prussia to come
to some agreement with the German
people and the State of the Hapsburgs.
4884
Prussia's
Relations with
Germany
For more than three centuries the latter
had, in virtue of their dynastic power,
become the representatives of the Romano-
German Empire. Their historical position
enabled them to lay claim to the leader-
ship of the federation, though their power
in this respect was purely external.
Certain obstacles, however, lay in the way
of any settlement. It was difficult to'
secure any feeling of personal friendship
between the South Germans and the
Prussians of the old province. Some
measure of political reform was needed, as
well for the consolidation of existing powers
of defence as for the provision of security
to the individual states which might then
form some check upon the severity of
Prussian administration.
Finally, there was the peculiar tempera-
ment of Frederic William IV., who had
succeeded to the government of Prussia
upon the death of his father, Frederic
William III., on June 7th, 1840. In
respect of creative power, artistic sense,
and warm, deep feeling, his character
can only be described as brilliant. He
was of the ripe age of forty-five, and his
first measures evoked general astonish-
^. „ .... ment and enthusiasm. But he
Ihe Brilliant ,-j , xi ^
P . did not possess the strong grasp
xirt,- t\T of his great ancestors an i
William IV. ,, . o . J- ^,
their power of guiding the
ship through critical dangers unaided.
He had not that inward consciousness of
strength and that decisiveness which
shrink from no responsibility ; least of all
had he a true appreciation of the time and
the forces at work.
Prussia's great need was a constitution
which would enable her to send up to
the central government a representative
assembly from all the provinces, such
assembly to have the power of voting taxes
and conscriptions, of supervising the
finances, and of legislating in conjunction
with the Crown. On May 22nd, 1S15,
Frederic William III. had made some
promises in this direction ; but these
remained unfulfilled, as the government
could not agree upon the amount of power
which might be delegated to an imperial
parliament without endangering the posi-
tion of the executive. Such danger un-
doubtedly existed.
The organisation of the newly-formed
provincial federation was a process
which necessarily affected private interests
and customs peculiar to the individual
areas which had formerly been indepen-
THE GERMAN FEDERATION AND CUSTOMS UNION
dent sections of the empire, and
were now forced into alliance with other
districts with which little or no connection
had previously existed. The conflicting
views and the partisanship inseparable
from parliamentary institutions would
have checked the quiet, steady work of the
Prussian bureaucracy, and would in any
case have produced a continual and un-
necessary agitation. The improvements in
the financia.1 condition created by the
better regulation of the national debt, by
the limitation of military expenditure, and
the introduction of a graduated system of
taxation, could not have been more
successfully or expeditiously carried out
than they were by such Ministers as
Billow and Klewitz.
So soon as the main part of this trans-
formation of the Prussian state had been
accomplished, prosperity began to return
to the peasant and citizen classes, and the
result of the customs regulations and the
consequent extension of the market began
to be felt. The citizens then began to feel
their power and joined the inheritors of
the rights formerly possessed by the
numerous imperial and provincial orders in
a demand for some share in
the administration. It was
Coronation
Pledges of
Prussian King
found possible to emphasise
these demands by reference to
the example of the constitutional govern-
ments existing in neighbouring territories.
The speeches delivered by Frederic William
IV. at his coronation in Konigsberg on Sep-
tember loth, 1840, and at his reception of
homage in Berlin on October 15th, 1840, in
which he displayed oratorical powers
unequalled by any previous prince,
appeared to point to an immediate fulfil-
ment of these desires.
The king was deeply moved by the out-
burst of national enthusiasm in German}^
which was evoked by the unjustifiable
menaces directed against Germany by
France in the autumn of 1840 during the
Eastern comphcations. The Minister,
Thiers, who had been in office since March
ist, suddenly broke away from the Great
Powers during the Turco-Egyptian war,
and initiated a policy of his own in favour
of Egypt — a short-sighted departure which
obliged Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and
Prussia to conclude the quadruple alliance
of July 15th, 1840, with the object of com-
pelUng Mehemet Ali to accept the con-
ditions of peace which they had arranged.
With a logic peculiarly their own, the
French considered themselves justified
in securing their immunity on the
Continent, as they were powerless against
England by sea. The old nonsensical
argument of their right to the Rhine
frontier was revived and they proceeded to
mobilise their forces. The German nation
made no attempt to disguise their anger at
rnt « . .• so insolent an act of aggres-
The Relations • ■■ , i n i-
- „ sion, and showed all reachness
of Uermany , ^ . u 1 r
. „ to support the proposals for
armed resistance. INikolaus
Becker composed a song against the
French which became extremely popular :
For free and German is the Rhine,
And German shall remain,
Until its waters overwhelm
The last of German name.
The nation were united in support of
their princes, most of whom adopted a
dignified and determined attitude towards
France. Then was the time for Frederic
William IV. to step forward. Supported
by the warlike temper of every German
race, with the exception of the Austrians,
who were in financial difficulties, and by the
popularity which his speeches had gained
for him, he might have intimidated
France both at the moment and for the
future. However, he confined himself
to the introduction of reforms in the
federal military constitution at Vienna,
and thus spared Austria the humiliation
of openly confessing her weakness. The
result of his efforts was the introduction
of a regular inspection of the federal
contingents and the occupation of Ulm
and Rastatt as bases for the concentration
and movements of future federal armies.
Thus was lost a most favourable op-
portunity for securing the federal pre-
dominance of Prussia by means of her
military power, for she could have con-
centrated a respectable force upon the
German frontier more quickly than any
other member of the Federation. More-
over, the attitude of Prussia at the London
conference was distinctly modest and in no
way such as a Great Power
should have adopted. The king's
lofty words at the laying of the
foundation stone of Cologne
Cathedral on September4th, 1842, produced
no deception as to his lack of political
decision. Whenever a special .effort was
expected or demanded in an hour of crisis,
Frederic William's powers proved unequal
to the occasion, and the confidence which
the nation reposed in him was deceived.
Hans von ZwiEDINECK-StiOENHORST
4885
Frederic
William a
Failure
THE MASSACRE OF THE MAMELUKES BY MEHEMET ALI IN 1811
Prom the palming by liul.i wi the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New Vork
4886
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
4- I
EUROPE
AFTER
WATERLOO
IX
THE NEW KINGDOM OF GREECE
RUSSIA AND THE SUBLIME PORTE
AFTER the Porte had given its consent
to the protocol of February 3rd, 1836,
the Great Powers of Europe addressed
themselves to the task of reorganising the
Greek kingdom. Thessaly, Epirus, ' Mace-
donia, even Acarnania, remained under
Turkish supremacy ; but a considerable
portion of the Greek people, forming a
national entity, though hmited in extent,
was now able to begin a new and free
existence as a completely independent state.
This success had been attained by
the rerharkable tenacity of the Greek
nation, by the continued support of
Great Britain, and, above all, by the
pressure which the Russian co-reJigionists
of the Greeks had brought to bear upon
the Turkish mihtary power. The work
of liberation was greatly hindered by the
diplomacy of the other Great Powers, and
particularly by the support given to the
. , Turks, the old arch enemies of
us na s Christendom, by Catholic Aus-
th''*T°'^k° ^^^^' ^° Austria it is due that
the Greek question has remained
unsolved to the present day ; ^ that
instead of developing its inherent strength
the Greek nation is still occupied with
the unification of its different tribeS; and
that the Turkish state, which was hostile
to civilisation, and has justified its ex-
istence only by means of the bayonets of
Anatolian regiments, still exists on suffer-
ance as a foreign body within the political
system of Europe. Once again the ob-
stacle to a thorough and comprehensive
reform of the political conditions within
the Balkan Peninsula was the puerile fear
of the power inherent in a self-determining
nation, and,' in a secondary degree; a desire
for the maintenance or extension. of influ-
ence which might be useful in the peninsula.
The true basis of such influence was not
as yet understood. It is not the states-
manship of ambassadors and attaches
which gives a nation influence abroad, but
its power to assert its will when its interest
so demands. National influence rests
upon the forces which the state can com-
mand, upon the industry of its traders,
the value and utihty of its products, the
creative power of its labour and capital.
The Greeks were now confronted with
the difficult task of concen-
trating their forces, accommo-
Greece
After its
Wars
dating themselves to a new
political system, and making
their independence a practical reality ; for
this purpose it was necessary to create
new administrative machinery, and for
this there was an entire dearth of the
necessary material. The problem was
further complicated by the fact that a
desperately contested war had not only un-
settled the country, but reduced it almost
to desolation. The noblest and the bravest
of the nation' had fallen upon the battle-
fields or under the attacks of the Janissaries
and Albanians, or had been slaughtered
and hurled into the flames of burning
towns and villages, after the extortion
of their money, the destruction of their
property, and the ruin of their prosperity.
The contribution of the European
Powers to facilitate the work of recon-
struction consisted of a king under age
and 2,400,000 pounds at a high rate
of interest. Prince Leopold of Coburg,
the first candidate for the Greek throne,
had unfortunately renounced his project ;
he would have proved a capai)le and
benevolent ruler, and would perhaps have
adapted himself to the peculiar character-
istics of Greek life and thought, with the
• eventual result -of providing a
ro cm o starting-point for the introduc-
thc Oreek , • r ^ - -,• , ^
^,. tion of more Civilised and more
modern methods, in conse-
quence of his retirement, the presidency
of Capodistrias continued for some time,
until the murder of this statesman/ who
had deserved well of his people, on October
gth, 1831 ; then followed the short reign
of his brother Augustine, who did not enjoy
4887
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the recognition of the constitutional party,
the Syntagmatikoi. Ultimately, by work-
ing on the vanity of King Lewis of
Bavaria, European diplomacy persuaded
this monarch to authorise his son Otto,
born on June ist, 1815, to accept the
Greek throne. The government was to
be carried on by three- Bavarian officials
until the youth attained his
° majority. This settlement was
»ng o i^i'ought about by the London
"Quadruple Convention" on
May 7th, 1832, and is one of the most
ill-considered pieces of work ever per-
formed by the statesmen of the old school.
Of the young prince's capacity as a
ruler not even his father can have- had
the smallest idea ; yet he was handed
over to fate, to sacrifice the best years of
his life in a hopeless struggle for power
and recognition. The Greeks were fooled
with promises impossible of fulfilment,
and inspired with mistrust and hatred
for their " benefactors." King Otto and
his councillors had not the patience to
secure through the National Assembly' a
gradual development of such conditions
as would have made constitutional
government possible ; they would not
devote themselves to the task of superin-
tendence, of pacification, of disentangling
the various complications, and restraining
party action within the bounds of legality.
The Bavarian officials, who might
perhaps have done good service in
Wiirzburg or Amberg, were unable to
accommodate themselves to their Greek
environment ; their mistakes aroused a
passionate animosity against the Germans,
resulting in their complete expulsion from
Hellas in 1843. On March i6th, X844,
King Otto was obliged to agree to the in-
troduction of a new constitutional scheme,
the advantages of which were hidden to
him by the fact that it merely aroused
new party struggles and parliamentary
discord. Consequently he did not observe
_. -, , this constitution with sufficient
„. . conscientiousness to regain the
vismiss
rr. ■ v national respect. Disturbances
Their King ■ ^., ^ f i ^i /- ■
in the Last and the Crimean
War proved so many additional obstacles
to his efforts, which were ended by a
revolt in October, 1862, when the Greeks
declined to admit their king within the
Piraeus as he was returning from the
Morea, and thus unceremoniously dis-
missed him from their service. In 1830,
Greece was definitively separated from
4888
Turkey ; and at the same time the
insolence of the Dey of Algiers, hitherto
under the Ottoman suzerainty, gave the
Bourbon monarchy the chance of trying
to recover its prestige with the nation
by the seizure of Algeria. The piratical
activity of the Barbary States was brought
to an end. In Turkey also that move-
ment was now beginning, which will be
considered later, the literary and political
revolution of the Young Turkish party.
The indefatigable Mahmud, however,
again resumed his efforts to secure the
unity of the empire. But he was forced
to give way to his Pasha of Egypt, Mehe-
met Ali, one of the most important rulers
whom the East had produced for a long
time. He was born in 1769 at Kavala, in
Roumelia, opposite the island of Thasos.
He had gone to Egypt in 1800 with some
Albanian mercenaries ; in the struggle
with the French, English, and Mamelukes
he had raised himself to supremacy, had
conquered the Wahabites, subjugated
Arabia and Nubia, and created a highly
competent army by means of military
reform upon a large scale. When Mahmud
II. declined to meet his extensive demands
„ . in return for the help he had
Russian 1 ■, • j. xt. r- i
J. . rendered agamst the Greeks,
th T k Ihrahim, an adopted son of Me-
hemet, a general of the highest
class, invaded Syria in 1831, defeated the
Turks on three occasions, conquered Akka,
X832, and advanced to Kiutahia, in Asia
Minor, in 1833. Mahnmd appealed to
Russia for help. Russia forthwith sent
15,000 men to the Bosphorus, whilst the
fleets of France and England jealously
watched the Dardanelles. Mehemet Ali was
obliged to make peace on May 4th, 1833,
and was driven back behind the Taurus.
The most important result of these
events, however, was the recompense
which the Sultan was induced to give
to the Russians for their help. He had
been shown the letters of the French
Ambassador, which revealed the intention
of the Cabinet of the Tuileries to replace
the Ottoman dynasty by that of Mehemet.
The result was the convention of Hunkyar-
Skalessi, the imperial stairs on the Bos-
phorus, July 8th, or May 26th, 1833. In
this agreement the terrified Sultan made
a supplementary promise to close the
Dardanelles in future against every Power
that was hostile to Russia. When this
one-sided convention, concluded in defi-
ance of all international rights, became
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
known, the Western Powers were naturally
irritated, and Prince Metternich wittily
designated the sultan as " le sublime
portier des Dardenelles au service du
tsar." The naval Powers withdrew their
fleets from the Dardanelles, after entering
a protest against this embargo. Mean-
while, the will of the tsar was supreme
both in Athens and Stamboul.
T arwas Obeying his instructions,
sar was ]y];ai-im^(j refused to allow the
upreme Austrians to blast the rocks
on the Danube at Orsova, or to permit
his subjects to make use of the ships of
the Austria-Hungarian Lloyd Company,
founded in Trieste in 1,836 ; notwith-
standing this prohibition the company
was able to resume with success the old
commercial relations of the Venetians
with the Levant. The Russian ambas-
sador discountenanced the wishes of the
grand vizir and of the seraskier, who
applied to the Prussian ambassador.
Count Konigsmark, with a request for
Prussian officers to be sent out, in view of
a reorganisation of the army, which was in
fact carried out under the advice of Moltke.
In 1837 the first bridge over the Golden
Horn was built, between Unkapau and
Asabkapusi ; not until 1845 and 1877 was
the new bridge constructed which is
known as the Valide, after the mother of
Abd ul-Mejid. On August i6th, 1838,
the British ambassador Ponsonby secured
the completion, in the house of Reshid
Pasha at Balta-Nin on the Bosphorus, of
that treaty respecting trade and customs
duties, which has remained the model of
all succeeding agreements. By way of
recompense the British fleet accompanied
the Turkish fleet during all its manoeu-
vres in the Mediterranean, until its seces-
sion to Mehemet Ali. War was declared
upon him by Sultan Mahmud in May,
1839, when the Druses had revolted against
the Syrian authorities in the Hauran.
However, the sultan died on July ist,
before he could receive the
«,** ° news of the total defeat of his
M* h**^ a ^^^^y ^t Nisib on June 24th,
and the desertion of his fleet in
Alexandria on July 14th. At a later period,
after his return to the Sublime Porte,
Moltke vindicated the capacity which Hafiz
Pasha had shown in face of the lack of dis-
cipline prevailing in his army, although
the seraskier had treated the suggestions
of the Prussian officers with contempt.
Ibrahim did not pursue his master's troops,
4890
as his own soldiers were too exhausted
to undertake any further movements.
Mahmud II. died a martyr to his own
ideas and plans ; even his greatest reforms
remained in embryo. However, his work
lives after him ; he was the founder of a
new period for Turkey, as Peter the Great,
with whom he liked to be compared, had
been for Russia. The difficulty of the
political situation, the incapacity of his
predecessors, the slavery imposed by the
domestic government and court etiquette,
were the real source of those obstacles which
often caused him such despondency that
he sought consolation in drunkenness, to
the utter destruction of his powers.
Abd ul-Mejid, 1839-1861, the son of
Mahmud, undertook at the age of sixteen
the government of a state which would
irrevocably have fallen into the power of
the Pasha of Egypt had not the ambitious
plans of France been thwarted by the
conclusion of the Quadruple Alliance on
July 15th, 1840, between England, Russia,
Austria, and Prussia. The interference of the
alliance forced the victorious Pasha Mehemet
Ali to evacuate Syria ; after the conclusion
of peace he obtained the Island of Thasos,
^, _ , , the cradle of his race, from the
The Sultan s , , t j-u
„. sultan, as an appanage 01 the
thcpLha viceroys of Egypt, in whose
possession it still remains.
An important advance is denoted by the
Hatti-sherif of Giilhane on November 3rd,
1839, which laid down certain principles,
on which were to be based further special
decrees. The reformation proclaimed as
law what had in fact long been customary,
the theoretical equality of the subjects of
every nation, race, and religion before the
law. It must be said that in the execution
of this praiseworthy decree certain prac-
tical difficulties came to light. Reshid
Pasha, the creator of the " hat," was not
inspired by any real zeal for reform, but
was anxious simply to use it as a means for
gaining the favour of the Christian Powers.
As early as 1830, for example, a census
had been undertaken, the first throughout
the whole Turkish Empire, the results of
which were valueless. No official would
venture to search the interior of a Moslem
house inhabited by women and children.
It was, moreover, to the profit of the
revenue officials to represent the number
of houses and families in their district as
lower than it really was, with the object
of filling their pockets with the excess.
The Porte, unable to secure the obedience
THE NEW KINGDOM OF GREECE A.ND THE SUBLIME PORTE
of the SjTians by a strong government
like the miUtary despotism of Ibrahim,
was equally unable to win over the
country by justice and good administra-
tion, for lack of one necessary condition,
an honest official service. It was not to the
" hat " of Gulhane of 1856, nor yet to the
later Hatti-humayun, that reform was
due, but to the European Powers associ-
ated to save the crescent. These Powers
suggested the only permanent solution
by supplying the watchword "A la
franca" ; and urged the Turks to acquire
a completer knowledge of the West, to
learn European languages and sciences,
to introduce the institutions of the West.
Literature also had to follow this
intellectual change. Towards the end of
the eighteenth century, a poet endowed
with the powers of the ancient East had
appeared in Ghalib, and a
court poet in the unfortunate
Sehm III. Heibet ullah Sul-
tana, a sister of the Sultan
Mahmud II., and aunt of the
reforming Minister Fuad, also
secured a measure of popu-
larity. These writers were,
however, unable to hinder the
decay of old forms, or rather
the dawn of a new period,
the Turkish " modem age."
The study of the languages of
Eastern civilisation became
neglected in view of the need
Persecution
of Protestant
Armenians
Shah into the Arabian Irak, Suleimanieh,
Bagdad, Kerbela, and Armenia, a war
wath Persia was threatened, and the dis-
pute was only composed with difficulty by
a peace commission summoned to meet
at Erzeroum. Within the Danubian
principalities the sovereign rights of
the Porte were often in conflict with
the protectorate poweis of
Russia. In Scrvia, Alexan-
der Karageorgevitch was
solemnly appointed bashbeg,
or high prince of Servia, by the Porte on
November 14th, 1842 ; Russia, however,
succeeded in persuading Alexander
voluntarily to abdicate his position,
which was not confirmed until 1843 by
Russia, after his re-election at Topchider,
near Belgrade. The Roman Catholic
— uniate — Armenians, who had already
endured a cruel persecution in
1828, secured toleration for
their independent Church in
1835 and a representative of
their own. A similar per-
secution, supported by Russia
from Etshmiadsin, also broke
out against the Protestant
Armenians in 1845. It was
not until November, 1850,
that their liberation was
secured by the energetic am-
bassador, Stratford Canning.
Even more dangerous was the
diplomatic breach between the
of "^ the study of the West, in mltfcotdudeype^Jf wSh Porte and Greece, 1847. This
The new generation kne-w Mehemet ah of Egypt, and in young state had grown insolent;
i- T T' 1 ■ Tv/r J 1853 his resistance to Russia s -' ",, , +i,„ -d,,^ : „
more of La Fontaine, Mont- claims to a protectorate over his supported by the Russian
esquieu, and Victor Hugo subjects led to the Crimean war. party which dominated the
than of the Moslem classics. The poUtical Chamber of Deputies, Greece had availed
need of reform made men ambitious to
secure recognition for the drafting of a
diplomatic note rather than for the com-
position of a Kassited, or of a poem with
a purpose. In the East as well as in the
West mediaeval poetry became a lost art.
By the Dardanelles Convention, which
. , was concluded with the Great
ussias Powers in London on July
Bi*"k 's ^3th, 1841, the Porte consented
to keep the Dardanelles and the
Bosphorus closed to foreign ships of war
in the time of peace. By this act the
Turkish Government gave a much desired
support to Russian aims at predominance
in the Black Sea. In the same year it was
necessary to suppress revolts which had
broken out in Crete and Bulgaria. In
consequence of the incursions of Mehmet
herself of the helplessness of the Porte
against Mehemet Ali, at the time when Abd
ul-Mejid began his reign, to send help to
the Cretans. The Prime Minister, Kolettis,
1 844- 1 847, had repeatedly demanded the
union of the Greeks. Continued friction
ended in 1846 with a collision between
the Turkish ambassador and the Greek
king, with the breaking off of diplomatic
relations, and with a revenge taken by
the sultan upon his Greek subjects, which
might almost have ended in war between
Greece and Turkey, England and France.
Not until September, 1847, ^^as an under-
standing between the two neighbours
secured, by the intervention of the tsar
on the personal appeal of King Otto.
Hans von Zwiedineck-Sldenhorst
Heinrich Zimmerer
4891
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE
AFTER
WATERLOO
X
THE STATE OF RELIGION IN EUROPE
AND THE PROGRESS OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
""THE great revolutions which had taken
•■• place in the political world since 1789
were not calculated to produce satisfac-
tion either among contemporaries or
posterity. Disillusionment and fear of
the degeneration of human nature, distrust
of the capacity and the value of civic and
political institutions, were the legacy from
these movements. As men lost faith in
political movement as a means of amelior-
ating the conditions of life or improving
morality, so did they yearn for the con-
tentments and the consolations of religion.
" Many believe; all would like to believe,"
said Alexis de Tocqueville of France
after the July Revolution. However,
the germs of piety, " which, though un-
certain in its objects, is powerful enough
in its effects," had already sprung to life
during the Napoleonic period. Through-
out the nineteenth century there is a
general ^/earning for the restoration of true
Christian feeling. It was a desire that
„ ^ . _ evoked attempts at the for-
Restored Power , • r t • - , •
, .. mation of religious societies,
Catholic Church o^^«=n °^ ^ very extraordin-
ary nature, without attain-
ing any definite object ; on the other hand,
it opened the possibility of a magnificent
development of the power of Catholicism.
The progress of the movement had made
it plain that only a Church of this nature
can be of vital importance to the history
of the world, and that the revival of
Christianity can be brought about upon no
smaller basis than that which is held by
this Church. The force of the movement
which resulted in the intensification of
papal supremacy enables us to estimate the
power of reaction which was bound to
occur, though the oppression of this
supremacy will in turn become intolerable
and the foundations of ultramontanism
and of its successes be shattered.
The restoration of power to the Catholic
Church was due to the Jesuit Order,
which had gradually acquired complete
and unlimited influence over the papacy ;
for this reason the success attained was
4892
purely artificial. Jesuitism has no ideals ;
for it, religion is merely a department of
politics. By the creation of a hierarchy
within a temporal state it hopes to secure
full scope for the beneficent activity of
Christian doctrine confined within the
trammels of dogma. For this purpose
Jesuitism can employ' any and every form
_. „ , . of political government. It
The Scheming , • - , r r
_ ,. , has no special preference lor
Policy of , ^ ^.u \ ■*.
th J t monarch}^, though it simu-
lates such a preference for
dynasties which it can use for its own pur-
poses ; it is equally ready to accommodate
itself to the conditions of republican and
parliamentary government. Materialism is
no hindrance to the fulfilment of its task,
the steady increase of the priestly power ;
for the grossest materialism is accom-
panied by the grossest superstition, and
this latter is one of its most valuable
weapons. While fostering imbecility and
insanity, it shares in the hobbies of science,
criticism and research. One maiden marked
with the stigmata can repair any damage
done to society by the well-meaning
efforts of a hundred learned fathers.
On August 7th, 1814, Pope Pius VII.
issued the encyclical Sollicitiido oniniinn,
reconstituting the Society of Jesus, which
retained its original constitution and
those privileges which it had acquired
since its foundation. At the Congress of
Vienna Cardinal Consalvi had succeeded
in convincing the Catholic and Protestant
princes that the Jesuit Order would prove
a means of support to the Legitimists, and
. ^ . would, in close connection
Jesuit Order
Supported by
the Papacy
with the papacy, undertake
the interests of the roval
houses — a device successfully
employed even at the present day. This
action of the papacy, a step as portentous
for the destinies of Europe as any of those
taken during the unhappy years of the
first Peace of Paris, appeared at first com-
paratively unimportant. The new world
power escaped notice until the highly gifted
Dutchman, Johann Philip of Roothaan,
TFIE STATE OF RELIGION IN EUROPE
took over the direction on July gth, 1829,
and won the Germans over to the Order.
The complaisance with which the French
and the Italians lent their services for the
attainment of specific objects deserves ac-
knowledgment. But even more valuable
than their diplomatic astuteness in the
struggle against intellectual freedom weie
the bUnd unreasoning obedience and the
strong arms of Flanders, Westphalia, the
Rhine districts and Bavaria. At the
outset of the thirties the society possessed,
in the persons of numerous young priests,
the implements requisite for destroying
that harmony of the Churches which was
founded upon religious toleration and
mutual forbearance. B3' the same means
the struggle against secular governments
could be begun, where such powers had
not already submitted by concordat to
the Curia, as Bavaria had done in 1817.
The struggle raged with
special fury in Prussia, though
this state, considering its
very modest pecuniary re-
sources, had endowed the
new-created Catholic bishop-
rics very handsomely. The
Jesuits declined to tolerate
a friendly agreement in things
spiritual between the Catholics
and Protestants in the
Rhine territories, to allow
the celebration of mixed
marriages with the "passive ' - — -
_• . ^^ ., r ., n .^ 1 ARCHBISHOP OF COLOGNE
assistance of the Catholic . , , . , r. ^. ^
,, 1 . , 1 , ,, Archbishop Ferdinand worthily
they objected to the fulfilled the duties of his hi^h
pastor
arranged by his predecessor. His repeated
transgression of his powers and his treat-
ment of the Bonn professors obliged the
Prussian Government to pronounce his
deposition on November 14th, 1837, ^nd
forcibly to remove him from Cologne.
The Curia now protested in no measured
terms against Prussia, and displayed
Disloyal ^ gaUing contempt for the
Prelate Pi'ussian ambassador, Bunsen,
Punished ^'^^° ^^^^ exchanged the profes-
sion of archagology for that of
diplomacy. Prince Metternich had for-
merly been ready enough to claim the
good services of the Berlin Cabinet when-
ever he required their support ; his
instructive diplomatic communications
were now withheld, and with some secret
satisfaction he observed the humihation
of his ally by Roman statecraft. The
embarrassment of the Prussian adminis-
tration was increased both by
the attitude of the Liberals,
who, with doctrinaire short-
sightedness, disputed the
right of the government to
arrest the bishop, and by the
extension of the Catholic
opposition to the ecclesiast-
ical province of Posen-Gnesen,
where the insubordination and
disloyalty of the archbishop,
Martin von Dunin, necessi-
tated the imprisonment of
that prelate also. Those
ecclesiastical dignitaries who
were under Jesuit influence
teaching of George Hermes, office and died on August 2nd, 1 8:35. p^ceeded to persecute such
professor in the Cathohc faculty at the
new-created university of Bonn, who
propounded to his numerous pupils the
doctrine that belief in revelation neces-
sarily implied the exercise of reason, and
that the dictates of reason must not
therefore be contradicted by dogma.
After the death of the excellent Arch-
bishop Ferdinand of Cologne on August 2nd,
The Defiant -"-^^D) the blind confidence of
Archbishop the government elevated the
of Cologne Prebendary Klemens August
Freiherr von Droste-Vischer-
ing to the Rhenish archbishopric. He
had been removed from the general vicar-
iate at Miinster as a punishment for his
obstinacy. In defiance of his previous
promises, the ambiguity of which had
passed unnoticed by the Minister Alten-
stein, the archbishop arbitrarily broke off
the agreement concerning niixed marriages
supporters of peace as the prince- bishop
of Breslau, Count Leopold of Sedlnitzky,
in 1840, employing every form of inter-
collegiate pressure which the labours of
centuries had been able to excogitate.
In many cases congregations were ordered
to submit to tests of faith, with which
they eventually declined compliance.
A more vigorous, and in its early
stages a more promising, resistance
arose within the bosom of the Church
itself. This movement was aroused by
the exhibition in October, 1844, of the
" holy coat " in Treves, a relic sup-
posed to be one of Christ's garments,
an imposture which had long before
been demonstrated ; an additional cause
was the disorderly pilgrimage thereto
promoted by Bishop Arnoldi. The
chaplain, Ronge. characterised the
exhibition as a scandal, and denounced
4893
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the " idolatrous worship of reUcs " as one
of the causes of the spiritual and political
humiliation of Germany. He thereby
became the founder of a reform move-
ment, which at once assumed a character
serious enough to arouse hopes that
the Catholic Church would now undergo
the necessary process of purification and
_. _ . separation, and would break
The Ruinous ^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ruinous in-
Influcnce ^^g^^g ^^ Jesuitism. About
of Jesuitism ^^^ hundred "German
Catholic " congregations were formed in
the year 1845, and a Church council was
held at Leipzig from March 23rd to 26th,
with the object of finding a common basis
for the constitution of the new Church.
However, it proved impossible to
arrange a compromise between the
insistence upon free thought of the one
party and the desire for dogma and ritual
manifested by the other. What was
wanted was the uniting power of a new
idea, brilliant enough to attract the uni-
versal gaze and to distract attention from
established custom and its separatist
consequences. Great and strong characters
were wanting, though these were indispen-
sable for the direction and organisation of
the different bodies who were attempting
to secure their libej'ation from one of the
most powerful tyrants that has ever
imposed the scourge of slavery upon an
intellectually dormant humanity. As long
as each party went its own way, pro-
claimed its own war-cry to be the only
talisman of victory, and adopted new
idols as its ensign, so long were they over-
powered by the determined persistency of
the Society of J esus.
Within the Protestant Churches also a
movement for intellectual independence
arose, directed against the suppression of
independent judgment, and the subjuga-
tion of thought to the decrees of the
" Superiors." The movement was based
upon the conviction that belief should be
„ , ^. controlled by the dictates of
Revelations j ^ i i • j
, „ . ..„ reason and not by ecclesiast-
01 Scientific 1 ., ^:( T^
Criticis ^ councils. The Prussian
Government limited the new
movement to the utmost of its power ; at
the same time it was so far successful that
the authorities avoided the promulgation
of decrees likely to excite disturbance and
practised a certain measure of toleration.
The revelations made by the scientific
criticism of the evangelical school gave a
further impulse in this direction, as these
4894
results were utilised by Strauss in his " Life
of Jesus," 1835, and his "Christian Dogma,
explained in its Historical Development
and in Conflict with Modern Science,"
1840-X841, works which made an epoch
in the literary world, and the importance of
which remained undiminished by any
measures of ecclesiastical repression.
Among the Romance peoples religious
questions were of less importance than
among the Germans. In Spain, such ques-
tions were treated purely as political
matters ; the foundation of a few Protest-
ant congregations by Manuel Matamoros
exercised no appreciable influence upon
the intellectual development of the Span-
iards. The apostacy of the Rorrian prelate
Luigi Desancti to the Waldenses and the
appearance of scattered evangelical socie-
ties produced no effect upon the position
of the Catholic Church in Italy. In France,
the liberal tendencies introduced by La-
martine and Victor Hugo remained a
literary fashion ; the efforts of Lacordaire
and Montalembert to found national free-
dom upon papal absolutism were nullified
by the general direction of Roman policy.
There was, however, one phenomenon
deserving a closer attention
-a phenomenon of higher
Lamennais the
Fiery Champion
, ^. „ importance than any dis-
of the Papacy i j 1 . i ■
played by the various
attempts at religious reform during the
nineteenth century, for the reason that its
evolution displays the stages which mark
the process of liberation from Jesuitism.
Lamennais began his priestly career
as the fiery champion of the papacy,
to which he ascribed infallibility. He
hoped to secure the recognition of its
practical supremacy over all Christian
governments. Claimed by Leo X. as the
" last father of the Church," he furiously
opposed the separatism of the French
clergy, which was based on the " Galilean
articles " ; he attacked the government
of Charles X. as being " a horrible
despotism," and founded after the July
Revolution a Christian-revolutionary
periodical, " L'Avenir," with the motto,
" Dieu et Liberte — le Pape et le Peuple."
By his theory, not only was the Church
to be independent of the State ; it was also
to be independent of State support, and
the clergy were to be maintained by the
voluntary offerings of the faithful.
This demand for the separation of Church
and State necessarily brought Lamennais
into connection with political democracy ;
THE STATE OF RELIGION IN EUROPE
hence it was but a step to the position that
the Church should be reconstructed upon
a democratic basis. This fact was patent
not only to the French episcopate, but
also to Pope Gregory XVI., who con-
demned the doctrines of the " father of
the Church," and, upon his formal sub-
mission, interdicted him from issuing any
further publications. Lamen-
nais, like Arnold of Brescia or
Girolamo Savonarola in earlier
times, now recognised that this
papacy was incompetent to fulfil the lofty
aims with which he had credited it ; he
rejected it in his famous "Paroles d'un
Croyant " in 1834, and found his way to
that form of Christianity which is based
upon brotherly love and philanthropy
and aims at procuring an equal share for
Religion in
England
and Scotland
greatly prized possession was, however,
threatened by the system of the Established
Church, which forced upon the congrega-
tions ministers who were not to their
liking ; but this was in itself merely
incidental to the more important and
comprehensive fact that the " establish-
ment " was subject to civil control, and
that questions affecting it might be
carried for decision to a court which was
Scottish only in the sense that it contained
a Scottish element — the House of Peers.
The view rapidly gained ground that in
matters regarded as spiritual the Church
ought to be subject to no authority save
its own ; in other words, that it ought to
be free from state control. But that view
was not general, nor was the state pre-
pared to recognise it. It only remained,
Newman Keble Pusejr
LEADERS OF THE TRACTARIAN MOVEMENT
Inspired by the desire to " awaken into new life a Church wliich was becoming- torpid by a revival of mediasval ideals
and mediaeval devotion," and with the aim of counteracting the " danger to religion arising from a sceptical criticism, "
the Tractarian movement in England had as its most notable champions Newman, Keble, and Pusey. Their
teachings were in many quarters regarded as nothing but barely veiled "Popery," a view tliat was strengthened
when Cardinal Newman went over to the Church of Rome, whither lie was followed by many of his disciples.
men in the enjoyment of this world's goods.
But in England and in Scotland there
was considerable ferment on religious
questions during the 'thirties and 'forties.
German rationalism indeed would hardly
have been permitted to obtain a foothold
in either country ; when respectability
was at its zenith, German rationalism
was not regarded as respectable. In
Scotland the crucial question was not one
of theology, but of Church government ;
in that country the national system of
education combined with the national
combativeness of character to make every
cottar prepared to support his own religi-
ous tenets with a surprising wealth of
scriptural erudition; and " spiritual inde-
pendence " was fervently cherished. That
therefore, for the protesting portion of the
community to sever itself from the state
by departing from the Establishment and
sacrificing its share in the endowments
and privileges thereto pertaining. In the
great Disruption of 1843 hundreds of
ministers resigned their manses and
churches rather than their principles ;
and the Free Church took its place side
by side with the Established Church as a
self-supporting religious body, although in
point of doctrine there was no distinction
between the two communities, which were
both alike Calvinist in theology and
Presbyterian in system.
The Tractarian movement in England
was of a different type. On the one side,
it was inspired by the desire to awaken
4895
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
into new life a Church which was becoming
torpid, by a revival of mediaeval ideals and
mediaeval devotion, to be attained through
insistence on mystical doctrines, on the
apostolic character of the priesthood, on
the authority of the fathers of the Church
as against the miscellaneous unauthorised
and ignorant interpretations of the Srri]>
tures, and on the
historic and
aesthetic attrac-
tions of elaborate i§
ceremonial. On
another side it
sought especially
to counteract
the danger to
r^eligion arising
from a sceptical
criticism, and ^
from the attacks
of the scientific
spirit which de-
clmed to regard ^^^ social reformers owen and fourier
convictions in the large spinning-works at New Lanark in Scotland, of which he StOOd
and resulting in a movement which soon
affected every nation. The great revolu-
tion had accomplished nothing in this
direction. The sum total of achievement
hitherto was represented by certain dismal
experiences of " State help " in the dis-
tribution of bread and the subsidising of
'Kikf^rs. The phrase inscribed in the
"Cahiers " of the
deputies of the
Third Estate in
1789 had now
been realised in
fact : " The voice
of freedom has
no message for
the heart of the
poor who die of
hunger." Babeuf,
the only French
democrat who
professed com-
munistic views,
was not under-
by the
^ r] rt n i f^ r\ nn was manager, Robert Owen put into practice his socialistic theories, i-naccAc onrl Kie
d-UupLCU uu but his experiment was not permanently successful. Equally futile "'''•^^^^' '^"^ ^"^
authority as be- and unsatisfactory was Charles Fourier's project of the " Phalan- martyrdom. OUC
ing knowledge. ^'^'^'" ^ "^"^ '""'^^ comnmnity having all things in comn-.on. ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^_
The "Tracts for the Times," from which
the movement took its name, the teaching
of John Henry Newman, of Keble, and of
Pusey, who were its most notable cham-
pions, alarmed the popular Protestantism
— the more when Newman himself went
over to the Church of Rome, whither he
was followed by many of his disciples ;
and " Puseyism " was commonly regarded
as nothing but barely veiled " Popery."
Newman would have had many more
imitators if the greatest of his colleagues
had not maintained their view that the
doctrines of " The Church " are those of
the Anglican Church, and refused to sever
themselves from her. They remained,
and it will probably be admitted that while
their movement inspired the clerical body
--not only their adherents, but their
opponents also— to a renewed activity at
the time, it had the further effect ulti-
mately, though not till after a consider-
able lapse of time, of attaching to itself a
majority of the most energetic and the
most intellectual of the clergy.
That Christian sociahsm to which
Lamennais had been led by reason and
experience was a by-product of the
numerous attempts to settle the pressing
question of social reform, attempts begun
simultaneously in France and England,
4896
necessary political murders of the Direc-
tory, had aroused no movement among
those for' whom it was undergone.
The general introduction of machinery
in man\ manufactures, together with the
more distant relations subsisting between
employer and workman, had resulted in
an astounding increase of misery among
the journeymen labourers. The working
classes, condemned to hopeless poverty
and want, and threatened with the de-
privation of the very necessaries of exist-
ence, broke into riot and insurrection ;
factories were repeatedly destroyed in
England at the beginning of the
ac ory century ; the silk weavers of
Kiots in T -• o 1 xt,
p. . . Lyons in 1831 and the weavers
'^^ ^^ of Silesia in 1844 rose against
their masters. These facts aroused the
consideration of the means by which
the appalling miseries of a fate wholly
undeserved could be obviated.
Among the wild theories and fantastic
aberrations of Saint-Simon were to be
found many ideas well worth considera-
tion which could not fail to act as a
stimulus to further thought. The
pamphlet of 18 14, " Reorganisation de
la Societe Europeenne," had received no
consideration from the Congress of Vienna,
for it maintained that congresses were not
THE STATE OF RELIGION IN EUROPE
the proper instrument for the permanent
restoration of social peace and order.
It was, however, plainly obvious that
even after the much- vaunted " Restora-
tion " the lines of social cleavage had
rapidly widened and that the majority
were oppressed with crying injustice.
Not wholly in vain did Saint-Simon
repeatedly appeal to manufacturers, in-
dustrial potentates, l')usiness men, and
financiers, with warnings against the
prevailing sweating system ; not in vain
did he assert in his " Nouveau Chris-
tianisme," 1825, that every Church in exist-
„ , ence had stultilied its Chris-
£ u rope s , • •. , ,,
_ tiamty by suppressmg the
„ , ^ loftiest teaching of Christ, the
Development i . ■ r i_ ^^i 1 1
doctrme of brotherly love.
No immediate influence was exerted upon
the social development of Europe by
Barthelemy 'Prosper Constantin's pro-
posals for the emancipation of the flesh,
and for the foundation of a new "theo-
cratic-industrial state," or by Charles
Fourier's project of the " Phalanstere," a
new social community having all things in
common, or by the Utopian dreams of
communism expounded by Etienne Cabet
in his " Voyage en Icarie." Such theorising
merely cleared the way for more far-seeing
thinkfers, who, from their knowledge of
existing institu-
tions, could de-
monstrate their
capacity of trans-
formation.
In Britain,
Robert Owen,
the manager of
the great spin-
ning-w o r k s at
New Lanark, in
Scotland, was the
first to attempt
the practical
realisation of a
philosophical Marx
social svstem pioneers c
o<j>-ia,i o J o I. >^ 111 . yjjg founder and guide of an international organisation of the pro
Owen S theories letanat, Karl Marx - '"
facts thus ascertained were worked into
a sociaUst system by the efforts of
a German Jew, Karl Marx, born in 1818
at Treves, a man fully equipped with
Hegelian criticism, and possessed by an
extraordinary yearning to discover the
causes which had brought existing con-
ditions of life to pass, a characteristic
due, according to Werner Sombart, to
" hypertrophy of intellectual energy."
He freed the social movement from the
revolutionary spirit which had been its
leading characteristic hitherto. He placed
one definite object before the movement,
the " nationalisation of means of pro-
duction," the method of attaining this end
being a vigorous class struggle. Expelled
from German soil by the Prussian police,
he was forced to take up residence in
Paris, and afterwards in London. There
he gained an accurate knowledge of the
social conditions of Western Europe, de-
voting special attention to the important
developments of the English trades-union
struggles, and thus became specially
qualified as the founder and guide of an
international organisation of the prole-
tariat, an indispensable condition of victory
in the class struggle he had proclaimed.
In collaboration with Friedrich Engel of
Elbcrfcld he created the doctrine of
^^ socialism, which
remained the
basis of the
sociahst move-
ment to the end
of the nineteenth
centur}'. That
movement chief-
ly centred in
Germany, after
Ferdinand Las-
salle had assured
its triumph in
the sixties. The
social movement
exerted but httle
political in-
theories letariat, Karl Marx, a German jew, freed the social movement flueilCe UpOU the
from its revolutionary spirit and placed before it the definite object p^,p,,fo aricincr
P 1 *-* " of nationalisation of means of production. Ferdinand Lassalle was eveilTS arising
may o
nounced
finite advance, as demonstrating that
capitalism as a basis of economics was
not founded upon any law of Nature,
but must be considered as the result of
an 1 istorieal development, and that
competition is not an indispensable
stimulus to production, but is an obstacle
to the true utilisation of labour. The
g^ cle- also a prominent worker in the cause of social democracy in Germany, out of the Tulv
Revolution ; its influence, again, upon the
revolutions of the year 1848 was almost
inappreciable. It became, however, a
modifying factor among the democratic
parties, who were looking to political
revolution for some transformation of ex-
isting public rights, and for some alteration
of the proprietary system in their favour.
4897
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE
AFTER
WATERLOO
XI
THE SPREAD OF LIBERALISM
AND THE COLLAPSE OF METTERNICH'S SYSTEM
The Zenith
of Metternich's
Influence
HTHE lack of initiative displayed by the
•^ King of Prussia was a valuable help to
Metternich in carrying out his independent
policy. The old cliancellor in Vienna had
become ever more profoundly impressed
with the insane idea that Providence had
specially deputed him to crush revolutions,
to support the sacred thrones
of Europe, Turkey included,
and that he was the dis-
coverer of a political system
by which alone civilisation, morality, and
religion could be secured. The great
achievement of his better years was one
never to be forgotten by Germany — the
conversion of Austria to the alliance
formed against the great Napoleon, and
the alienation of the Emperor Francis
from the son-in-law whose power was
almost invincible when united with that
of the Hapsburg emperor. At that time,
however, Metternich was not the slave of
a system ; his action was the expression
of his will, and he relied upon an accurate
judgment of the personalities he employed,
and an accurate estimation of the forces
at his disposal.
As he grew old his self-conceit and
an exaggerated estimate of his own
powers led him blindly to follow those
principles which had apparently deter-
mined his earlier policy in every
political question which arose during the
European supremacy which he was able
to claim for a lull decade after the Vienna
Congress. His belief in the system — a
belief of deep import to the destinies
of Austria — was materially
Co^ ^Y f sti'erigthened by the fact that
„ .. . . Alexander L, who had long
Metternich , , r . i
been an opponent of the
system, came over to its support before
his death and recognised it as the
principle of the Holy Alliance. The
consequence was a degeneration of the
qualities which Metternich had formerly
developed in himself. His clear appre-
ciation of the situation and of the main
•4898
interests of Europe in the summer of
18 13 had raised Austria to the most
favourable position which she had occupied
for centuries. Her decision determined
the fate of Europe, and so she acquired
power as great as it was unexpected.
This predominance was the work of
Metternich, and so long as it endured
the prince was able to maintain his
influence. He, however, ascribed that
influence to the superiority of his own
intellect and to his incomparable system,
neglecting the task of consolidating and
securing the power already gained. Those
acquisitioris of territory which Metternich
had obliged Austria to make were a source
of mischief and weakness from the very
outset. The Lombard- Venetian kingdom
implied no increase of power, and its
administration involved a constant drain
of money and troops. The troops, again,
which were drawn from an unwarlike
^ . , population, proved unreliable.
Death of K^,^ ^ ■. ir
Ine possession itself neces-
c mperor gj^g^^gj-| interference in Italian
affairs, and became a constant
source of embarrassment and of useless
expense. Valuable possessions, moreover,
in South Germany already in the hands of
the nation were abandoned out of con-
sideration for this kingdom, and acquisi-
tions likely to become highly profitable
were declined. Within the kingdom a
state of utter supineness prevailed in
spite of the supervision bestowed upon it,
and the incompetence of the administra-
tion condemned the state and its great
natural advantages to impotence.
Far from producing any improvement,
the death of the Emperor Francis L, on
March ist, 1835, caused a marked dete-
rioration in the condition of the country.
The Archdukes Charles and John were
unable to override the supremacy of
Metternich. As hitherto, they were unable
to exercise any influence upon the govern-
ment, which the ill-health and vacillatioi;
of Ferdinand L. the successor, had
THE COLLAPSE OF METTERNICH'S SYSTEM
practically reduced to a regency. Franz
Anton, Count of Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky,
attempted to breathe some life into the
Council of State, but his efforts were
thwarted by Metternich, who feared the
forfeiture of his own power.
The Tsar Nicholas upon his visit to
Toplitz and Vienna, in 1835, had remarked
that Austria was no longer capable of
guaranteeing a successful policy, and that
her "system" could not be maintained in
practice, remarks which had done no good.
It was impossible to convince Metternich
that the source of this weakness lay in
himself and his determination to repress
the very forces which should have been
developed. The Archduke Lewis, the
emperor's youngest uncle and a member
of the State Conference, was averse to
any innovation, and therefore inclined to
uphold that convenient system which laid
down the maintenance of existing institu-
tions as the first principle of statesmanship.
Within Austria herself, however, the
state of affairs had become intolerable.
The government had so far decayed as to
be incapable of putting forth that energy,
. the absence of which the Tsar
_" '' . ^ had observed. The exchequer
Roused to J. T_ - J 1
. . accounts betrayed an annual
deficit of thirty million gulden,
and the government was forced to claim
the good offices of the class representa-
tives, and, what was of capital importance,
to summon the Hungarian Reichstag on
different occasions. In that assembly the
slumbering national life had been aroused
to consciousness, and proceeded to supply
the deficiencies of the government by
acting in its own behalf. Count Szechenyi
gave an impetus to science and art and
to other movements generally beneficial.
Louis Kossuth, Franz Pulszky, and
Franz Deak espoused the cause of con-
stitutional reform.
A flood of political pamphlets pub-
lished abroad, chiefly in Germany, ex-
posed in full detail the misgovernment
prevailing in Austria and the Crown
territories. European attention was
attracted to the instability of the
conditions obtaining there, which seemed
to betoken either the downfall of the
state or a great popular rising. Austria's
prestige among the other Great Powei's had
suffered a heavy blow by the Peace of
Adrianople, and now sank yet lower.
Metternich was forced to behold the growth
of events, and the accomplishment of
deeds utterly incompatible with the
fundamental principles of conservative
statesmanship as laid down by the Con-
gresses of Vienna, Carlsbad, Troppau,
Laibach, and Verona.
The July Revolution and the triumph of
liberalism in England under William IV.
caused the downfall of Dom Miguel, " king"
Stir i °^ Portugal, who had been
'■""g induced by conservative diplo-
Portugal inacy to abolish the constitu-
tional measures introduced by
his brother, Dom Pedro of Brazil. To
this policy he devoted himself, to his own
complete satisfaction. The revolts which
broke out against him were ruthlessly
suppressed, and thousands of Liberals
were imprisoned, banished, or brought
to the scaffold. Presuming upon his
success and relying upon the favour of
the Austrian court, he carried his aggran-
disements so far as to oblige Britain and
France to use force and to support the
cause of Pedro, who had abdicated the
throne of Brazil in favour of his son, Dom
Pedro II., then six years of age, and was
now asserting his claims to Portugal.
Pedro I . adhered to the constitutionalism
which he had recognised over-seas as
well as in Portugal, thus securing the
support not only of all Portuguese Liberals,
but also of European opinion, which had
been aroused by the bloodthirsty tyranny
of Miguel. The help of the British
admiral, Charles Napier, who annihilated
the Portuguese fleet at Cape San Vincent
on July 5th, 1833, enabled Pedro to gain a
decisive victory over Miguel, which the
latter's allies among the French legitimists
were unable to avert, though they hurried
to his aid. His military and political
confederate, Don Carlos of Spain, was
equally powerless to help him.
In Spain, also, the struggle broke out
between liberalism and the despotism
which was supported by an uneducated
and degenerate priesthood, and enjoyed
. , the favour of the Great Powers
pain s ^ ^^ Eastern Europe. The con-
cgcnera c fj^^j-g^^^Qj^ began upon the death
Priesthood , t^- t^ t j a^tt
of Kmg rerdmand VIL, on
September 29th, 1833, the material cause
being a dispute about the hereditary right
to the throne resulting from the introduc-
tion of a new order of succession. The
decree of 1713 had limited the succession
to heirs in the male line ; but the Prag-
matic Sanction of March 29th, 1830, trans-
ferred the right to the king's daughters,
4899
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Isabella and Louise, by his marriage wiLli
Maria Christina of Naples. Don Carlos
declined to recognise this arrangement,
and on his brother's death attempted to
secure his own recognition as king.
After the overthrow of Dom Miguel
and his consequent retirement from
Portugal, Don Carlos entered Spain in
person with his adherents,
./ ^ , who were chiefly composed of
Movement .in r~ i'.- f .1
. c • the Basques fightmg tor their
in Spam • i • 1 x .< r " j
special rights, lueros, and
the populations of Catalonia and Old
Castile, who were under clerical influence.
The Liberals gathered rovmd the queen
regent, Maria Christina, whose cause was
adroitly and successfully upheld by the
Minister, Martinez de la Rosa. The forces
at the disposal of the government were
utterly inadequate, and their fleet and
army were in so impoverished a condition
that they could make no head against the
rebel movement. Under the leadership
of Thomas Zumala-Carregui the Carlists
won victory after victory, and would
probably have secured possession of the
capital had not the Basque general
received a mortal wound before Bilbao.
Even then the victory of the " Cristinos "
was by no means secure. The Radicals
had seceded from the Liberals upon the
question of the reintroduction of the
constitution of 18x2. The revolution of
La Granja gave the Radicals complete
influence over the queen regent ; they
obliged her to accept their own nominees,
the Ministry of Calatrava, and to recognise
the democratic constitution of June 8th,
1837. Their power was overthrown by
Don Baldomero Espartero, who com-
manded the queen's troops in the Basque
provinces. After a series of successful
movements he forced the Basque general,
Maroto, to conclude the capitulation of
Vergara on August 29th, 1839. The party
of Don Carlos had lost greatly botli in
numbers and strength, owing to the care-
Queen Regent ^^^.^''''^^ ^"^^ pettifogging
„ . ^ spirit of the pretender and the
Forced f- ^ , . .
i. Akj- t dissensions and domineering
to Abdicate ... r , ■ ,• , i°
spirit of his immediate ad-
herents, who seemed the very incarnation
of all the legitimist foolishness in Europe.
When Carlos abandoned the country on
September 15th, 1839, General Cabrera
continued fighting in his behalf ; however,
he also retired to French territory in July,
1840. The queen regent had lost all claims
to respect by her intrigues with one of
4900
her body-guard, and was forced to abdicate
on October 12th. Espartero, who had
been made Duke of Vittoria, was then
entrusted by the Cortes with the regency.
The extreme progressive party, the
Exaltados, failed to support him, although
he had attempted to fall in with their views.
They joined the Moderados, or moderate
party, with the object of bringing about
his fall. Queen Isabella was then de-
clared of age, and ascended the throne.
Under the Ministry of Don Ramon ^laria
Narvaez, Duke of Valencia, the constitu-
tion was changed in 1837 to meet the
wishes of the Moderados, and constitutional
government in Spain was thus abolished.
Though his tenure of office was repeatedly
interrupted, Narvaez succeeded in main-
taining peace and order in Spain, even
during the years of revolution, 1848-1849.
The moral support of the Great Powers
and the invasion of the French army
under the Duke of Angouleme had been
powerless to check the arbitrary action of
the Bourbons and clergy in Spain. No
less transitory was the effect of the
Austrian victories in Italy ; the Italian
people had now risen to full
».T^ J ^ . consciousness of the disgrace
National i- j ■ .1 1 j <•
jj. implied m the burden of a
foreign yoke. The burden,
indeed, had been lighter under Napoleon
and his representatives than under the
Austrians. The governments of Murat and
Eugene had been careful to preserve at least
a show of national feeling ; their military
power was drawn from the country itself,
and consisted of Italian regiments officered
v/ith French, or with Italians who had
served in French regiments. The French
had been highly successful in their efforts
to accommodate themselves to Italian
manners and customs, and were largely
helped by their common origin as Romance
peoples. The Germans, on the other
hand, with the Czechs, Magyars, and Croa-
tians, v/ho form.ed the sole support of
the Austrian supremacy in the Lombard-
Venetian kingdom, knew but one mode of
intercourse with the Italians — ^that of
master and servant ; any feeling of mutual
respect or attempt at mutual accommo-
dation was impossible.
A small number of better-educated
Austrian officers and of better-class in-
dividuals in the rank and file, who were
preferably composed of Slav regiments,
found it to their advantage to maintain
good relations with the native population ;
THE COLLAPSE OF METTERNICH'S SYSTEM
r?^|^3^
but the domineering and occasionally
brutal behaviour of the troops as a whole
was not calculated to conciliate the
Italians. The very difference of their
uniforms from all styles previously known
served to emphasise the foreign origin
of these armed strangers. Ineradicable
was the impression made by their language,
which incessantly outraged the delicate
Italian ear and its love of harmony.
Of any exchange of commodities, of any
trade worth mentioning between the
Italian provinces and the Austrian Crown
lands, there was not a trace. The newly
acquired land received nothing from its
masters but their money. Italian con-
sumption was confined to the limits of the
national area of production ; day by day
it became clearer that Italy had nothing
whatever in common with
Austria, and was without
inclination to enter into
economic or intellectual rela-
tions with her. The sense of
nationalism was strengthened
by a growing irritation against
the foreign rule ; this feeling
penetrated every class, and
inspired the intellectual life
and the national literature.
Vittorio Alfieri, the con-
temporary of Napoleon, was
roused against the French
yoke by the movement for
liberation. His successors,
Ugo Foscolo, Silvio Pellico,
Giacomo Leopardi, created
a purely nationalist enthusi- ink year he abdicated the throne
asm. Their works gave passionate expres-
sion to the deep-rooted force of the desire
for independence and for equality with
other free peoples, to the shame felt by
an oppressed nation, which was groaning
under a yoke unworthy of so brilliantly
gifted a people, and could not tear itself
free. Every educated man felt and wept
with them, and was touched with the
purest sympathy for the unfortunate
. , victims of policy, for the con-
c^^A w k spirators who were languishing
f °it 1 *" ^^ ^^^ Austrian fortresses.
ay Highly valuable to the import-
ance of the movement was the share taken
by the priests, who zealously devoted
themselves to the work of rousing the
national spirit, and promised the support
and practical help of the Catholic Church
for the realisation of these ideals. It was
Vincenzo Gioberti who first demonstrated
to the papacy its duty of founding the
unity of the Italian nation. Mastai
Ferretti, Bishop of Imola, now Pope
Pius IX., the successor of Gregory XVI.,
who died June ist, 1846, was in full
sympathy with these views. To the
Italians he was already known as a zealous
. , . patriot, and his intentions
Austria ^ , i n ■. ^
n- • . J • were yet more definitely
Disappointed in 11,11 r
^. p^ announced by the decree of
apacy amnesty issued July 17th,
1846, recalling 4,000 political exiles to the
Church states. Conservative statesmen
in general, and the Austrian Government
in particular, had granted the Catholic
Church high privileges within the state,
and had looked to her for vigorous support
in their suppression of all movement
towards freedom. What more mortifying
situation for them than the
state of war now subsisting
between Austria and papal
Italy ! The Cabinet of Vienna
was compelled to despatch
reinforcements for service
against the citizen guards
which Pius IX. had called
into existence in his towns,
aid therefore in Ferrara,
which was in the occupation
of Austrian troops.
• When Christ's vicegerent
upon earth took part in the
revolt against the "legitimist"
power, no surprise need be
at the action of that
repentant sinner, Charles
Albert of Sardinia. Formerly
involved with the Carbonari, he had grown
sceptical upon the advantages of liberalism
after the sad experiences of 1821. He
now renounced that goodwill for Austria
which he had hypocritically simulated
since the beginning of his reign in 1831.
Turin had also become a centre of revo-
lutionary intrigue. Opinion in that town
pointed to Sardinia and its military
strength as a better nucleus than the
incapable papal government for a nation
resolved to enter upon a war of liberation.
Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, born
August loth, i8io, the editor of the
journal " II Risorgimento," strongly re-
commended the investment of Charles
Albert and his army with the military
guidance of the revolt. The Milan no-
bility were influenced by the court of
Turin, as were the more youthful nation-
alists and the numerous secret societies
,4901
CHARLES ALBERT
Succeeding- his father as King of ,
Sardinia, he pursued a policy of lelt
moderation ; but declaring war
against Austria in lS48,in the follow-
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
which the July Revohition had broucjht
into existence throughout Italy, by
Giuseppe jMazzini, one of the most highly
gifted and most dangerous leaders of
the democratic party in Europe.
Austria was therefore obliged to make
preparations for defending her Italian
possessions by force of arms. The ad-
ministration as conducted by
Aus na ^^^q amiable Archduke Rainer
reparing ^^^^^ without power or influence.
On the other hand, Count
Radetzky had been at the head of the
Austrian forces in the Lombard- Venetian
kingdom since 1831. He was one of the
first strategists of Europe, and no less
distinguished for his powers of organisa-
tion ; in short, he fully deserved the
high confidence which the court and the
whole army reposed in him. He was
more than eighty years of age, for he had
been born on November 4th, 1766, and
had been present at the deliberations of
the allies upon their movements in 1813 ;
yet the time was drawing near when this
aged general was to be the mainstay of the
Austrian body politic, and the immutable
corner-stone of that tottering structure.
A very appreciable danger menacing
the progress of nations toward self-govern-
ment had arisen within the Swiss Con-
federation, where the Jesuit Order had
obtained much influence upon the govern-
ment in several cantons. By the con-
stitution of 1815 the federal members had
acquired a considerable measure of inde-
pendence, sufficient to permiit the adoption
of wholly discordant policies by the
different governments. The Jesuits aimed
at the revival of denominational institu-
tions to be employed for far-reaching
political objects, a movement which
increased the difficulty of maintaining
peace between the Catholic and the
reformed congregations. Toleration in
this matter was provided by the consti-
_^^ , .^ tution, but its continuance
The Jesuits J- 11 J 11 .1
• ^1. c • naturally depended upon the
in the Swiss , , ,■•' ^^ ,, ^
„ - . .. abstention of either party
Confederation . ^1^ , , ^ ,
from attempts at encroach-
ment upon the territory of the other. In
1833 ^^ unsuccessful attempt had been
made to reform the principles of the
federation and to introduce a uniform
legal code and system of elementary
education. The political movement then
spread throughout the cantons, where the
most manifold party subdivisions, ranging
from conservative ultramontanists to
4902
radical revolutionaries, were struggling for
majorities and predominance. In Aargau
a peasant revolt led by the monks against
the liberal government was defeated, and
tiie Church i)roperty was sold in 1841, while
in Ziirich the Conservatives were upper-
most, and prevented the appointment of
David Frederic Strauss to a professorship
at the university.
In Lucerne the ultramontanists stretched
their power to most inconsiderate extremes,
calling in the Jesuits, who had established
themselves in Freiburg, Schw3'z, and
Wallis, and placing the educational system
in their care, October 24th, 1844. Two
democratic assaults upon the government
were unsuccessful, December 8th, 1844, and
March 30th, 1845, but served to increase the
excitement in the neighbouring cantons,
where thousands of fugitives were nursing
their hatred against ithe ultramontanes,
who were led by the energetic peasant Peter
Leu. The murder of Leu intensified the
existing ill-feeling and ultimately led to
the formation of a separate confederacy,
composed of the cantons of Lucerne,
Schwyz, Uri, .Unterwalden, Zug, Freiburg,
„ . . ., and Wallis, the policy being
Switzerland s j t j. j. 1 t-v •
under Jesuit control. Ihis
Catholic federation raised
great hopes among conserva-
tive diplomatists. Could it be strengthened,
it would probably become a permanent
counterpoise to the liberal cantons, which
had hitherto been a highly objectionable
place of refuge to those peace-breakers
who were hunted by the police of the Great
Powers. At the Federal Assembly the
liberal cantons were in the majority, and
voted on July 20th, 1847, for the dissolu-
tion of the separate federation, and on Sep-
tember 3rd for the expulsion of the Jesuits
from the area of the new federation.
At Metternich's p^-oposal, the Great
Powers demanded the appointment of a
congress to deal with the situation.
However, the diet, distrusting foreign
interference, and with good reason, de-
clined to accede to these demands, and
proceeded to put the federal decision into
execution against the disobedient can-
tons. Thanks to the careful forethought
of the commander-in-chief, William Henry
Dufour, the famous cartographer, who
raised the federal military school at Thun
to high distinction, and also to the
rapidity with which the overwhelming
numbers of the federal troops, 30,000
men, were mobilised, the " Sonderbund
Cantons
of Refuge
THE COLLAPSE OF METTERNICH'S SYSTEM
war '' was speedily brought to a close
without bloodshed. Austrian help proved
unavailing, and the cantons were eventu-
ally reduced to a state of impotence.
The new federal constitution of Septem-
ber I2th, 1848, then met with unanimous
acceptance. The central power, which was
considerably strengthened, now decided
the foreign policy of the country, peace
and war, and the conclusion of treaties,
controlling also the coinage, and the postal
and customs organisation , and maintaining
the cantonal constitutions. The theories
upon the nature of the Federal State pro-
pounded by the jurist professor, Dr. Johann
Kaspar Bluntschli, were examined and
adopted with advantageous results by the
radical-liberal party, which possessed a
majority in the constitutional diet.
Bluntschli had himself espoused the
conservative-liberal cause after the war
of the separate federation, which he had
vainly tried to prevent. Forced to retire
from the public life of his native town, he
transferred his professional activities to
Munich and Heidelberg. The develop-
ments of his political philosophy were not
,^ without tlaeir influence upon
those fundamental principles
Metternich's
Lack
of Courage
wluch have given its special
political character to the con-
stitution of the North German Federation
and of the modern German Empire. The
Swiss Confederation provided a working
example of the unification of special
administrative forms, of special govern-
mental rights, and of a legislature limited
in respect of its sphere of action, in
conjunction with a uniform system of
conducting foreign policy. Only such a
government can prefer an unchallenged
claim to represent the state as a whole
and to comprehend its different forces.
Metternich and the King of Prussia were
neither of them courageous enough to
support the exponents of their own prm-
ciples in Switzerland. Prussia had a special
inducement to such action in the fact of
her sovereignty over the principality of
Neuenburg, which had been occupied by
the Liberals in connection with the move-
ment against the separate federation, and
had been received into the confederation
as an independent canton. In the aris-
tocracy and upper classes of the population
Frederic William IV. had many faithful
and devoted adherents, but he failed to
seize so favourable an opportunity of
defending his indisputable rights by occu-
pying his principality with a sufficient
force of Prussian troops. His vacillation
in the Neuenburg question was of a piece
with the general uneasiness of his temper,
which had begun with the rejection of his
draft of a constitution for Prussia and the
demands of the representatives of the
estates for the institution of some form of
. constitution more honourable
aci a ing ^^^ -^ consonance with the
,"if . rights of the people. But rarely
of Prussia , ° , , ^ , ■ r ■ "^
have the preparations for im-
perial constitution been so thoroughly made
or so protracted as they were in Prussia.
From the date of his accession the
king had been occupied without cessa-
tion upon this question. The expert
opinion of every adviser worth trusting
was called in, and from 1844 commission
meetings and negotiations continued un-
interruptedly. The proposals submitted to
the king emanated, in full accordance with
conservative spirit, from the estates as
constituted ; they provided for the reten-
tion of such estates as were competent,
and for the extension of their representa-
tion and sphere of action in conjunction
with the citizen class ; but this would not
satisfy Frederic William.
The constitution drafted in 1842 by
the Minister of the Interior, Count
Arnim, was rejected by the king in con-
sequence of the clauses providing for
the legal and regular convocation of the
constitutional estates. The king abso-
lutely declined to recognise any rights
appertaining to the subject as against the
majesty of the ruler ; he was therefore by
no means inclined to make such rights a
leading principle of the constitution. By
the favour of the ruler, exerted by him in
virtue of his divine right, the representa-
tives of the original constitutional estates
might from time to time receive a sum-
mons to tender their advice upon questions
of public interest. As the people had
every confidence in the wisdom and con-
scientiousness of their ruler,
agreements providing for their
Frederic
William &
His People
co-operation were wholly super-
fluous. " No power on earth,"
he announced in his speech from the
throne on April nth. 1847, " would ever
induce him to substitute a contractual
form of constitution for those natural
relations between king and people, which
were strong, above all in Prussia, by reason
of their inherent reality. Never under any
circumstances would he allow a written
4903
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
paper, a kind of second providence,
governing by paragraplis and ousting the
old sacred faith, to intervene between
God and his country."
Such was the residuum of all the dis-
cussion upon the Christian state and the
" hierarchical feudal monarchy of the
IMiddle Ages," which had been the work of
the Swiss Lewis von Haller
and his successors, the Berlin
The Prussian
King a Victim
of Delusion
author Adam Miiller, the Halle
professor Hienrich Leo, and
Frederic Julius Stahl, a Jew converted to
Protestantism, whom Frederic William IV.
had summoned from Erlangen to Berlin in
1840. By a wilful abuse of history the
wild conceptions of these theorists were
explained to be the proven facts of the
feudal period and of feudal society. Con-
stitutional systems were propounded as
actual historical precedents which had
never existed anywhere at any time.
The object of these efforts as declared
by Stahl was the subjection of reason to
revelation, the reintroduction of the Jewish
theocracy into modern political life.
Frederic William had allowed himself to be
convinced that such was the Germanic
theory of existence, and that he was for-
warding the national movement by making
his object the application of this theory to
the government and administration of his
state. He was a victim of the delusion
that the source of national strength is
to be found in the admiration of the
intangible precedents of past ages, whereas
the truth is that national strength must at
every moment be employed to cope with
fresh tasks, unknown to tradition and
unprecedented. Notwithstanding the
emphatic protest of the heir presumptive
to the throne. Prince William of Prussia,
to the Ministry, at the head of which was
Ernest von Bodelschwingh, and though no
single Minister gave an unqualified assent
to the project, the king summoned the
eight provincial Landtags to meet at Berlin
. as a united Landtag for April
^. ^\l^f, ° iith,i847. Even before the ouen-
the United • r lu 1 1 -j. i
, . nig of the assembly it became
manifest that this constitutional
concession, which the king considered
a brilliant discovery, pleased nobody. The
old Orders, which retained their previous
rights, were as dissatisfied as the citizens
outside the Orders, who wanted a share in
the legislature and administration. The
speech from the throne, a long-winded
piece of conventional oratory, was marked
4901
in part by a distinctly uncompromising
tone. Instead of returning thanks for the
concessions which had been made, the
Landtag proceeded to draw up an address
demanding the recognition of their rights.
The wording of the address was extremely
moderate in tone, and so far mollified the
king as to induce him to promise the
convocation of another Landtag within
the next four years ; but further negotia-
tions made it plain that both the represen-
tatives of the nobility and tlic city deputies,
especially those from the industrial Rhine
towns, were entirely convinced that the
Landtag must persevere in demanding
further constitutional concessions.
The value to the state of the citizen class
was emphasised by Vincke of Westphalia,
Beckerath of Krefeld, Camphausen of
Cologne, and Hansemann of Aix-la-
Chapelle. These were capitalists and em-
ployers of labour, and had therefore every
right to speak. They were at the head of
a majority which declined to assent to the
formation of an annuity bank for relieving
the peasants of forced labour, and to the
proposal for a railway from Berlin to
. Konigsberg, the ground of
Dissension j-gf^g^^ ^^^ ^^i^^ ^-^eir assent
in the '^
Landtag
was not recognised by the Crown
Ministers as necessary for the
ratification of the royal proposals, but was
regarded merely as advice requested by
the government on its own initiative.
The Landtag was- then requested to pro-
ceed with the election of a committee to deal
with the national debt. Such a committee
would have been supeiHuous if financial
authority had been vested in a Landtag
meeting at regular intervals, and on this
question the liberal majority split asunder.
The party of Vincke-Hansemann declined
to vote, the party of Camphausen-Becke-
rath voted under protest against this en-
croachment upon the rights of the Landtag,
while the remainder, 284 timorous Liberals
and Conservatives, voted unconditionally.
The conviction was thus forced upon
Liberal Germany that the King of Prussia
would not voluntarily concede any measure
of constitutional reform, for the reason that
he was resolved not to recognise the rights
of the people. Prussia was not as yet
capable of mastering that popular upheaval,
the beginnings of which could be felt, and
using its strength for the creation of a Ger-
man Constitution to take the place of the
incompetent and discredited Federation.
Hans von Zwiedineck-Sudenhorst
EUROPEiNREyOLUTION 1
THE FALL OF LOUIS PHILIPPE
AND ITS EFFECTS THROUGHOUT EUROPE
nPHE monarchy of Louis Philippe of
■'• Orleans had become intolerable by
reason of its dishonesty. The French can-
not be blamed for considering the Orleans
rulers as Bourbons in disguise. This scion
of the old royal family was not a flourishing
offshoot ; rather was it an excrescence,
with all the family failings and with none
of its nobler qualities. Enthusiasm for
such prudential, calculating, and unim-
passioned rulers was impossible, whatever
their education or their claims. . Their bad
taste and parsimony destroyed their credit
as princes in France, and elsewhere their
pos.ition was acknowledged rather out of
politeness than from any sense of respect.
The " citizen- king " certainly made
every effort to make his government
popular and national. He showed both
jealousy for French interests and gratitude
to the Liberals who had placed him on the
thi'one ; he sent troops unsparingly to
save the honour of France in Algiers.
After seven years' warfare a completion
was made of the conquest, which the
French regarded as an extension of their
power. The bold Bedouin sheikh, Abd el
Kader, whose career has been described
elsewhere, was forced to surrender to La-
moriciere on December 22nd, 1847. Louis
^^ „ , . Philippe imprisoned this
The Bedouin 11 r -i j j. •
_ . , noble son of the desert m
Fnsoncr of t^ t,, 1 1 ■
, . _. ... France, although his son
Louis Philippe T^j T^ , r ^ - 1 1 J
Henry, Duke 01 Aumale, had
promised, as Governor-general of Algiers,
that he should have his choice of residence
on Mohammedan territory. The king also
despatched his son, the Due de Joinville,
to take part in the war against Morocco,
and gave him a naval position of equal
importance to that which Aumale held in
the army. He swallowed the insults of
Lord Palmerston in order to maintain the
" entente cordiale " among the Western
Powers. He calmly accepted the defeat of
his diplomacy in the Turco-Egyptian
quarrel, and surrendered such
°'' /"^ influence as he had acquired
,./ * with Mehemet Ali in return
Napoleon , j. • -i t\t
lor paramountcy m the Mar-
quesas Islands and Tahiti. He married
his son Anton, Duke of Montpensier,
to the Infanta Louise of Spain, with
some idea of reviving the dynastic con-
nection between France and Spain.
While thus resuming the policy of Louis
XIV., he was also at some pains to con-
ciliate the Bonapartists, and 'by careful
respect to the memory of Napoleon to
give his government a national character.
The remains of the great emperor were
removed from St. Helena by permission of
Britain and interred with gi'eat solemnity
in the Church of the Invalides on
December 15th, X840. Louis Bonaparte,
the nephew, had contrived to avoid cap-
ture by the Austrians at Ancona, and had
proposed to seize his inheritance ; twice
he appeared within the French frontiers,
at Strassburg on October 30th, 1836, and
at Boulogne on August 6th, 1840, in
readiness to ascend the throne of France.
He only succeeded in making himself
ridiculous, and eventually paid for his
temerity by imprisonment in the fortress
of Ham. There he remained, condemned
to occupy himself with writing articles
upon the solution of the social question,
the proposed Nicaraguan canal, etc., until
his faithful follower. Dr. Conneau,
G 4905
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
smuggled him into
England under the name
of' Maurer Badinguet.
Thus far the reign of
Louis Phihppe had been
fairly successful ; but the
French were growing
weary of it. They were
not entirely without sym-
pathy for the family to
which they had given the
throne,- and showed some
interest in the princes,
who were usually to be
found wherever any small
success might be achieved.
The public sorrow was
unfeigned at the death
of the eldest prince.
Louis, Duke of Orleans,
who was killed by a fall
from a carriage on July
QUEEN OF THE FRENCH
13th, 1842. These facts,
however, did not produce
any closer ties between
the dynasty and the
nation. Parliamentary
life was restless and
Ministries were constantly
changing. Majorities in
the Chambers were se-
cured by artificial means,
and by bribery in its
most reprehensible forms.
Conspiracies were dis-
covered and suppressed,
and plots for murder were
made the occasion of the
harshest measures against
the Radicals ;• but no one
of the gi'eat social groups
could be induced to link
The daughter of Ferdinand I., King- of Naples ^^^ fortUUeS permanently
and later of the Two Sicilies, Marie Amelie . , -i ^^ ^Y -i ^ -U^-,-,JL
was married to Louis Philippe in the year 1809. With thOSe of the HoUSe
THE ROYAL HOUSE OF ORLEANS : LOUIS PHILIPPE AND HIS FIVE SONS
in this picture, from the painting by Horace Vernet, Louis Philippe i; shown with his sons, the Duke of Orleans, the Duke
of Nemours, the Duke of Joinville, the Duke of Aumale, and the Duke of Montpensier, leaving the Palace of VersaUles.
4906
THE FALL OF LOUIS PHILIPPE
of Orleans. Unfortunately for himself, the
king had reposed special confidence in the
historian Guizot, the author of histories of
the English revolution and of the French
civilisation, who had occupied high offices
in the state since the Restoration. He had
belonged to the first Ministry of Louis
Philippe, together with the Due de
Broglie ; afterwards, he had several times
held the post of Minister of Education,
and had been in London during the quarrel
with the British ambassador. After this
affair, which brought him no credit, he
returned to
France, and on
the fall of Thiers
in October, 1840,
became Minister
of Foreign Affairs,
with practical
control of the
foreign and dom-
estic policy of
France, subject
to the king's
personal inter
vention. Hib
doctrinaire ten-
dencies had grad-
u a 1 1 y brought
him over from
the liberal to the
conservative side
and thrown him
into violent op-
position to his
former col-
leagues, Thiers in
particular. The
acerbity of his
character was
not redeemed by
his learning and
his personal up-
rightness ; his
intellectual arro-
gance alienated
the literary and political leaders of Parisian
society. The Republican party had under-
gone many changes since the establishment
of the July monarchy ; it now exercised a
greater power of attraction upon youthful
talent, a quality which made it an even
more dangerous force than did the revolts
and conspiracies which it fostered from
1831 to 1838. These latter severely tested
the capacity of the army for street warfare
on several occasions. It was twice
necessary to subdue Lyons, in November,
LOUIS PHILIPPE
1831, and July, 1834, and the barricades
erected in Paris in 1834 repelled the
National Guards, and only fell before the
regiments of the line under General Bu-
geaud. The Communist revolts in Paris
under Armand Barbes and Louis Auguste
Blanqui, in May, 1839, were more easily
suppressed, tliough the Hotel de Ville and
the Palais de Justice had already fallen
into the hands of the rebels.
These events confirmed Louis PhiUppe
in his intention to erect a circle of fortifi-
cations round Paris, for protection against
enemies from
within rather
than from with-
out. Homicidal
attempts were
no longer perpe-
trated by indivi-
dual desperadoes
or bloodthirsty
monomaniacs,
such as the Corsi-
can Joseph
Fieschi, on July
28th, 1835, whose
infernal machine
killed eighteen
people, including
Marshal Mortier.
They were under-
taken in the
service of repub-
lican propa-
gandism, and
were repeated
with the object
of terrorising the
ruling c la s s e s ,
and so providing
an occasion for
the abohtion oi
the monarchy.
The doctrines
of communism
were then being
disseminated throughout France and
attracted the more interest as stock-
exchange speculation increased ; fortunes
were made with incredible rapidity, and
expenditure rose to the point of prodi-
gality. Louis Blanc, nephew of the Cor-
sican statesman Pozzo di Borgo, went a
step further towards the transformation
of social and economic life in his treatise
" L'Organisation du Travail," which urged
that coUectivist manufactures in national
factories should be substituted for the
4907
ING OF THE
FRENCH
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
efforts of the individual employer. The
rise of communistic societies among the
Republicans obliged the old-fashioned
Democrats to organise in their turn ; they
attempted and easily secured an under-
standing with the advanced Liberals.
The " dynastic opposition," led by
Odilon Barrot, to which Thiers occasionally
gave a helping hand when he was out of
office, strained every nerve to shake the
public faith in the permanence of the July
dynasty. The republican party in the
Second Chamber
was led by Alex-
andre ,R o 1 1 i n
after the death of
Etienne Garnier-
Pages and of
Armand Carrel,
the leaders dur-
ing the first
decade of the
Orleans m o n -
archy. A dis-
tinguished law-
yer and brilliant
orator, Roll in
soon over-
shadowed all
other politicians
who had aroused
any enthusiasm
in the Parisians.
His comparative
wealth enabled
him to embark
in journalistic
ventures; .his
paper " La Re-
forme " pointed
consistently and
unhesitatingly to
•republicanism as
the only possible
form of govern-
ment after the
now imminent
downfall of the
July monarchy. The action of the majority
now destroyed such credit as the Chamber
had possessed ; they rejected proposals
from the opposition forbidding deputies to
accept posts or preferment from the
Government, or to have an interest in
manufacturing or commercial companies,
the object being to put a stop to the un-
disguised corruption then rife. Constitu-
tional members united with Republicans
in demanding a fundamentalreform of the
4908
THE DUKES OF ORLEANS AND AUMALE
The sons of Louis Philippe, they held commands in the army, and,
like their brothers, "were usually to be found wherever any small
success might be achieved." There was much public sorrow when
the Duke of Orleans was killed by a fall from a carriage in 1S42.
cries were taken up
Guard, and the king.
electoral system. Louis Blanc and Rollin
raised the cry for universal suffrage. Ban-
quets, where vigorous speeches were made
in favour of electoral reform, were ar-
ranged in the autumn of 1847, and con-
tinued until the Ciovernment prohibited
the banquet organised for February 22nd,
1848, in the Champs Elysees. However,
Ch. M. Tannegui, Count Duchatel, was
induced to refrain from ordering the
forcible dispersion of the meeting, the
liberal opposition on their side giving up
the projected
banquet. Agi-eat
crowd collected
on the appointed
day in the Place
Madeleine,
whence it had
been arranged
that a procession
should march to
the Champs
Elysees. The re-
publican leaders
invited the crowd
to mai'ch to the
Houses of Par-
liament, and it
became neces-
sary to call out
a ; regiment of
cavalry for the
dispersion of the
rioters. This task
was. successfully
accomplished,
but on the 23rd
the disturbances
were renewed.
Students and
workmen pa-
raded the streets
arm in arm,
shouting not only
' ' Reform ! ' ' but
also " Down with
Guizot ! " These
by the National
who had hitherto
disregarded the movement, began to con-
sider the outlook as serious ; he dismissed
Guizot and began to confer with Count
Louis Matthieu Mole, a leader of the mod-
erate Liberals, on the formation of a new
Ministry. Thus far the anti -dynastic party
had been successful, and now began to
hope for an upright government on a purely
constitutional basis. In this they would
4909
HARMS WORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
liave been entirely deceived, for upright-
ness was not one ol the king's attributes.
But on tliis point he was not to be tested.
On the evening of February 23rd the
crowds which thronged the boulevards
gave loud expression to their delight at
the dismissal of Guizot. Meanwhile, the
republican agents were busily collecting
the inhabitants of the suburbs, who had
been long prepared for a rising, and
sending them forward to the more excited
quart I M^ ni 1I;: Hiey would not, in
of those incidents which are always possible
when troops are subjected to the threats
and taunts of the people, and in such a
case attempts to apportion the blame are
futile. The thing was done, and Paris
rang with cries of " Murder ! To artns ! "
About midnight the alarm bells of Notre
Dame began to ring, and thousands flocked
to raise the barricades. The morning of
February 24th found Paris in revolution,
ready to begin the struggle against the
people's king. " Louis Philippe orders his
THE kHlEPTION of napoleons BODY AT THE CHURCH OF THE INVALIDES
At the Church of the Invalides the body of Napoleon was received by Louis PhiUppe, the royal family, the archbishop
?nd all the clergy of Paris. The sword and the hat of the emperor were laid on the coffin, which was then placed
on a magnificent altar in the centre of the church, and after an impressive funeral service was lowered into the tomb.
all probability, have been able to trans-
form the good-tempered and characteristic
cheerfulness which now filled the streets of
Paris to a more serious temper had not an
unexpected occurrence fiUed the mob with
horror and rage. A crowd of people had
come in contact with the soldiers stationed
before Guizot's house. Certain insolent
youths proceeded to taunt the officer in
command ; a shot rang out, a volley
iollov/ed, and numbers of the mockers lay
weltering in their blood. It was but one
4c,io
troops to fire on the people, like Charles X.
Send him after his predecessor ! " This
proposal of the " Reforme " became the
republican solution of the question.
The monarchy was now irrevocably
lost ; the man who should have saved it
was asking help from the Liberals, who
\^«re as powerless as himself. A would-be
ruler must know how to use his power,
and must believe that his will is force in
itself. When, at his wife's desire, the
king appeared on horseback before his
THE TOMB OF NAPOLEON AT THE h6tEL DES INVALIDES IN PARIS
The magnificent tomb erected to Napoleon atths Hotel des Invalides is a fitting memorial of the man who made Europe
tremble and whose genius raised him to the pinnacle of power. A circular crypt, surrounded by twelve colossal figures
symbolising his victories, contains the sarcophagus, which was hewn out of a single block of Siberian porphyry.
49II
THE FLIGHT OF LOUIS PHILIPPE FROM PARIS IN l>i3
Events in Paris had again been leading up to a revolution, and on February 24th, 1848, the capital of France was once
more the scene of a people's rising against the monarchy. Alarmed at the course of affairs, the king abdicated in
favour of his grandson, the Count of Paris, and went off to St. Cloud with the queen, afterwards escaping to England.
.•-eginients and the National Guard, he knew
within himself that he was not capable of
rousing the enthusiasm of his troops.
Civilian clothes and an umbrella would
have suited him better than sword and
epaulettes. Louis Philippe thus abdicated
in favour of his grandson, the Count of
Paris, whom he left to the
care of Charles, Duke of
Nemours, took a portfolio of
such papers as were valuable,
and went away to St. Cloud
with his wife. The bold
daughter of Mecklenburg,
Henriette of Orleans, brought
her son, Louis Philippe, who
was now the rightful king,
into the Chamber of Deputies,
where Odilon Barrot, in true
knightly fashion, broke a
lance on behalf of the king's
rights and of constitutional-
ism. But the victors in the ^ . , u- . • r- ■ .
. ./-ij- 1 1 I,,- Emment as an historian, Guizot
Street fighting had made their became chief adviser to Louis Phi-
wav into the ball thpir rnm- >'Ppe on the dismissal'of Thiers, and
way into inc nail, Xneir com- ^is reactionary policy did much to
radeS were at that moment bring about the revolution of 1848.
invading the Tuileries, and Legitimists and
Democrats joined in deposing the House
of Orleans and demanding the appoint-
ment of a provisional government. The
question was dealt with by the "Chris-
tian rnoralist," poet, and . diplomatist,
4912
GUIZOT THE HISTORIAN
Alphonse de Lamartine, whose " His-
tory of the Girondists " in eight volumes
with its glorification of political murder
had largely contributed to advance the
revolutionary spirit in France. Though
the electoral tickets had fallen into the
greatest confusion, he contrived to produce
a list of names which were
backed by a strong body of
supporters ; these included
Louis Garnier-Pages, half-
brother of the deceased
Etienne, Ledru-Rollin, the
astronomer Dominique Fran-
9ois Arago, the Jewish lawyer
Isak Cremieux, who was
largely responsible for the
abdication of Louis Philippe,
and Lamartine himself. The
list was approved. The body
thus elected effected a timely
junction with the party of
Louis Blanc, who was given
a place in the government
with four republican consulta-
tive members. They then took
possession of the Hotel de Ville, filled up
the official posts, and with the concurrence
of the people declared France a republic on
February 25th. The dethroned king and
the members of his house were able, if not
unmenaced, at any rate without danger,
49^:
HARMS WORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
to reach the coasts of England and
safety, or to cross the German frontier.
The new government failed to satisfy
the Socialists, who were determined, after
definitely establishing the " right of la-
bour," to insist upon the right of the wage
they desired. The installation of state
factories and navvy labour at two francs
a day was not enough for
Demands ^j^^^^ . ^j^^^^ formed hundreds
g . ^j. of clubs under the direction of
a central bureau, with the
object of replacing the government for the
time being by a committee of public safety,
which should proceed to a general redis-
tribution of property. Ledru-Rollin was
not inclined to accept the offer of the presi-
dency of such an extraordinary body ; he
and Lamartine, with the help of General
Changarnier and the National Guards,
entirely outmanoeuvred the hordes which
had made a premature attempt to storm the
town hall, and forced them to surrender.
Peace was thus assured to Paris for
the moment. The emissaries of the revolu-
tionaries could not gain a hearing, and it
was possible to go on with the elections,
which were conducted on the principle of
universal suffrage. Every 40,000 inhabi-
tants elected a deputy ; every department
formed a uniform electorate. Lamartine,
one of the goo chosen, obtained 2,300,000
votes in ten departments. The Assembly
was opened on May 4th.
To the organised enemies of monarchy
the February Revolution was a call to
undisguised activity ; to the world at
large it was a token that the times of peace
were over, and that the long-expected
movement would now inevitably break
out. It is not always an easy matter to
decide whether these several events ori-
ginated in the inflammatory labours of
revolutionaries designedly working in
secret, or in some sudden outburst of
feeling, some stimulus to action hitherto
unknown. No less difficult is the task of
. deciding how far the conspira-
„ \^ , tors were able personally to
Enemies of • ^i . .1 n j- ^ a
y. . mffuence others of radical ten-
dencies but outside their own
organisations. These organisations were
most important to France, Italy, Germany,
and Poland. The central bureaus were in
Paris and Switzerland, and the noble
Giuseppe Mazzini, indisputably one of the
purest and most devoted of Italian patriots,
held most of the strings of this somewhat
clumsy network. His journals " Lci
4914
Giovine Europa " and " La Jeune Suisse "
were as short-lived as the " Giovine Italia,"
published at Marseilles in 1831 ; but they
incessantly urged the duty of union upon
all those friends of humanity who were
willing to share in the task of liberating
peoples from the tyranny of monarchs.
From 1834 3- special " union of exiles "
had existed at Paris, which declared " the
deposition and expulsion of monarchs an
inevitable necessity," and looked for a
revolution to break out in France or
Germany, or a war between France and
Germany or Russia, in the hope of assisting
France in the attack upon the German
rulers. Its organisation was as extra-
ordinary as it was secret ; there were
" mountains," " national huts," " focal
points," " circles," wherein preparation
was to be made for the transformation of
Germany in the interests of humanity.
The " righteous " had diverged from the
" outlaws," and from X840 were reunited
with the " German union," which aimed at
" the formation of a free state embracing
the whole of Germany." The persecutions
and continual "investigations" which
the German Federation had carried on
_ since the riots at Frankfort
c secu ions j^^^ impeded, though not
of the German <• 1 1 1 rP
„ . ^. entu'ely broken off, corn-
Federation ■ ■'.. , . ' ,
munications between the cen-
tral officials in Paris and their associates
residing in Germany. From Switzerland
came a continual stream of craftsmen,
teachers, and authors, who were sworn in
by the united Republicans. Karl Mathy,
afterwards Minister of State for Baden, who
had been Mazzini's colleague in Solothurn,
was one of their members in 1840, when he
was called to Carlsruhe to take up the
post of editor of the " Landtagszeitung."
The deliberations of the united Landtag
at Berlin had attracted the attention of
the South German Liberals to the highly
talented politicians in Prussia, on whose
help they could rely in the event of a
rearrangement of the relative positions of
the German states. The idea of some
common movement towards this end was
mooted at a gathering of politicians at
Heppenheim on October i6th, 1847, and it
was determined to lay proposals for some
change in the federal constitution before
the assemblies of the individual states.
In the grand duchy of Baden the
Democrats went even further at a meeting
held at Offenburg on September 12th.
Proceedings were conducted by a certain
THE FALL OF LOUIS PHILIPPE
lawyer of Mannheim, one Gustav von
Struve, an overbearing individual of a
Livonian family, and by Friedrich Hecker,
an empty-headed prater, also an attorney,
who had already displayed his incapacity
for political action in the Baden Landtag.
To justifiable demands for the repeal of
the decrees of Carlsbad, for national
representation within the German Federa-
tion, for freedom of the Press, religious
toleration, and full liberty to teachers,
they added immature proposals, as to the
practicable working of which no one had
the smallest conception. They looked not
only for a national system of defence and
members of the state. The king and
poet, Lewis I., had conceived a blind in-
fatuation for the dancer Lola Montez,
an Irish adventuress — .Rosanna Gilbert —
who masqueraded under a Spanish name.
This fact led to the downfall of the
Ministry, which was clerical without
exception ; further consequences were
street riots, unjustifiable measures against
the students who declined to show respect
to the dancing-woman, and finally bloody
conflicts. It was not until the troops dis-
played entire indifference to the tyrannical
orders which had been issued that the
king yielded to the entreaties of the
EPISODE IN THE PARIS REVOLUTION : BURNING THE THRONE AT THE JULY COLUMN
fair taxation, but also for " the removal
of the inequalities existing between capital
and labour and the abolition of" all privi-
leges." Radicalism thus plumed itself
upon its own veracity, and pointed out
the path which the masses who listened
to its allurements would take — a result of
radical incapacity to distinguish between
the practicable and the unattainable.
Immediately before the events of Feb-
ruary in Paris were made known, the
kingdom of Bavaria, and its capital in
particular, were in a state of revolt and
open war between the authorities and the
citizens, on February nth, 1848, and
removed from Munich this impossible
beauty, who had been made a countess.
The first of those surprising phenomena
in Germany which sprang from the im-
pression created by the February Revolu-
tion was the session of the Federal Assembly
on March ist, 1848. Earlier occurrences
in the immediate neighbourhood of Frank-
fort, no doubt materially influenced the
course of events. In Baden,' before his
fate had fallen upon the July king, Karl
Mathy had addressed the nation from the
Chamber on February 23rd : "For thirty
4915
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
years the Germans have tried moderation
and in vain ; they must now see whether
violence will enable them to advance,
and such violence is not to be limited to
the states meeting-hall ! " At a meet-
ing of citizens at Mannheim on the 27th,
an address was carried by Struve which
thus formulated the most pressing ques-
tions : Universal mihtary ser-
J" vice with power to elect the
o erman ^^^^^.^ unrestrained freedom
°* ^ of the Press, trial by jury after
the English model, and the immediate
constitution of a German Parliament.
In Hesse-Darmstadt, a popular deputy
in the Landtag, one Gagern, the second
son of the former statesman of Nassau
and the Netherlands, demanded that
the Government should not only call a
Parliament, but also create a central
governing power for Germany. The re-
quest was inspired by the fear of an
approaching war with France, which was
then considered inevitable. It was fear
of this war which suddenly convinced the
high Federal Council at Frankfort-on-
Main that' the people were indispensable
to their existence. On March ist they
issued " a federal decree to the German
people," W'hose existence they had dis-
regarded for three centuries, emphasising
the need for unity between all the German
races, and asserting their conviction that
Germany must be raised to her due
position among the nations of Europe.
On March ist Herr von Struve led a gang
of low-class followers in the pay of the
Republicans, together with the deputies
of the Baden towns, into the federal
Chamber. Ejected thence, he turned upon
the castle in Carlsruhe, his aim being to
foment disturbances and bloody conflict,
and so to intimidate the moderately
minded majority. His plan was foiled
by the firm attitude of the troops. But the
abandonment of the project was not to be
expected, and it was clear that the
„ . . nationalist movement in Ger-
,1, f-u I < many would meec with its
(he Check to /, i i • -r-, t
^ .. ,. most d? Tiger ous check m Radi-
calism. 1 elegrams from Pans
and West Germany reached Munich, when
the newly restored peace was again broken.
The new Minister, State Councillor von
Berks, was denounced as a tool of -Lola
Montez, and his dismissal was enforced.
On IMarch 6th, King Lewis, in his usual
poetical style, declared his readiness to
satisfy the popular demands. However,
4916
fresh disturbance was excited by the
rumour that Lola Montez was anxious to
return. Lewis, who declined to be forced
into the concession of any constitution
upon liberal principles, lost heart and
abdicated in favour of his son Maximilian
II. He saw clearly that he could no
longer resist the strength of the movement
for the recognition of the people's rights.
The political storm would unchain the
potent forces of stupidity and folly which
the interference of short-sighted majorities
had created. When Lewis retired into
private life, Metternich had already fallen.
The first act of the Viennese, horrified
at the victory of the Republicans in Paris,
was to provide for the safety of their
money-bags. The general mistrust of the
Government was shown in the haste wuth
which accounts were withdrawn from
the public savings banks. It was not,
however, the Austrians who pointed the
moral to the authorities. On March 3rd,
in the Hungarian Reichstag, Kossuth
proposed that the emperor should be
requested to introduce constitutional gov-
ernment into his provinces, and to grant
Hungary the national self-government
which was hers by right. In
Vienna similar demands were
advanced by the industrial
unions, the legal and political
reading clubs, and the students. It
was hoped that a bold attitude would
be taken by the provincial Landtag,
which met on March X3th. When the
anxious crowds promenading the streets
learned that the representatives proposed
to confine themselves to a demand for
the formation of a committee of deputies
■ from all the Crown provinces, they invaded
the council chamber and forced the meeting
to consent to the despatch of a deputation
to lay the national desire for a free con-
stitution before the emperor.
While the deputation was proceeding to
the Hofburg the soldiers posted before the
council chamber, including- the Archduke
Albert, eldest son of the Archduke Charles,
who died in 1847, w^ere insulted and pelted
with stones. They replied with a volley.
It was the loss of life thereby caused which
made the movement a serious reality.
The citizens of Vienna", startled out of
their complacency, vied with the mob
in the loudness of their cries against-
this " firing on defenceless men." Their
behaviour was explained to Count
Metternich in the Hofburg, not as an
Riots in
the Streets of
Vienna
FIGHTING IN THE STREETS OF PARIS DURING THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY. 1848
From the drauing by Wegiier
4917
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
ordinary riot capable of suppression by
a handful of police, but as a revolution
with which he had now to deal. Nowhere
would such a task have been easier than in
Vienna had there been any corporation or
individual capable of immediate action,
and able to make some short and definite
promise of change in the
government system. There
was, however, no nucleus
round which a new govern-
ment could be formed, Prince
Metternich being wholly im-
practicable for such a purpose.
All the state councillors,
the court dignitaries, and
generally those whom chance
or curiosity rather than
definite purpose had gathered
in the corridors and ante-
chambers of the imperial
castle, were unanimous in the
opinion that the Chancellor
of State must be sacrificed.
to draw up any programme for the
introduction of constitutional principles.
Even on March 14th they demurred to
the word " constitution," and thought it
possible to effect some compromise with
the provincial deputations. Finally, . on
March 15th, the news of fresh scenes
induced the privy councillor
of the royal family to issue
the following declaration :
" Provision has been made
for summoning the deputies
of all provincial estates in
the shortest possible period,
for the purpose of con-
sidering the constitution of
the country, with increased
representation of the citizen
class and with due regard to
the existing constitutions of
the several estates." The
responsible Ministry of Kolo-
LEWis I. OF BAVARIA wrat-Ficquclmout, formed on
Ascending the throne in 1825, he IMarch iStll, included among
This empty figiu-e-head stood il^^'^^J t^iZic' 6il!onll^^^^^ Metternich's worn-out tools
isolated amid the surrounding and m the year i848 abdicated in ouc man only possessed of
turmoil, unable to help him- /^"°"^°''''^^°'""'^^'''™'""" "• the knowledge requisite for
self or his perplexed advisers ;* he emitted the drafting of a constitution in detail ;
a few sentences upon the last sacrifice
that he could make for the monarchy
and disappeared. He left no one to take
up his power ; no one able to represent
him, able calmly and confidently to ex-
amine and decide upon the demands
transmitted from the street
to the council chamber. The
Emperor Ferdinand was
himself wholly incapable of
grasping the real meaning
of the events which had
taken place in his immediate
neighbourhood. The Arch-
duke Lewis, one of Metter-
nich's now useless tools, was
utterly perplexed by the con-
flict of voices and opinions.
In his fear of the excesses
that the "Reds" might be
this was the Minister of the Interior,
Pillersdorf, who was as weak and feeble
in character as in bodily health.
In Hungary the destructive process was
far more comprehensive and imposing.
On March 14th Louis Kossuth in the
Reichstag at Pressburg se-
cured the announcement of
the freedom of the Press, and
called for a system of national
defence for Hungary, to be
based upon the general duty
of military service. Mean-
while, his adherents, con-
sisting of students, authors,
and "jurats" — idle lawyers —
seized the reins of govern-
ment in Ofenpest, and
replaced the town council by
a committee of public safety.
expected to perpetrate, he t^J^^jng^sfavourTi^ composed of radical members
lost sight of the means which with this Irish adventuress, who by preference. On the 15th
might have been used to S^Montel" Lewis ^1 "be"lm°J the State Assembly of the
pacify the moderate party infatuated, but ' ^ • - . ,- ,
and induce them to maintain *° '^"""^^ ^"
law and order. The authorisation for the
arming of the students and citizens was
extorted from him perforce, and he would
hear nothing of concessions to be made by
the dynasty to the people. Neither he
nor Count Kolowrat Liebsteinsky ventured
4918
was compelled Reichstag was transformed
from Munich. -^^^ ^ National Assembly.
Henceforward its conclusions were to be
communicated to the magnates, whose
consent was to be unnecessary. •
On the same day a deputation of the
Hungarian Reichstag, accompanied by
jurats, arrived at Vienna, where Magyars
THE FALL OF LOUIS PHILIPPE
and Germans swore to the fellowship with
all pomp and enthusiasm.' The deputation
secured the concession of an independent
and responsible Ministry for Hungary.
This was installed on March 23rd by the
Archduke Palatine Stephen, and united
the popular representatives among Hun-
garian politicians, such as Batthyany and
Szechenyi, with Prince Paul Eszterhazy,
Josef von Eotvos, Franz von Deak, and
Louis Kossuth. After a few days' delibera-
tion the Reichstag practically abolished the
old constitution. The rights of the lords
were abrogated, and equality of politicall
rights given to citizens of towns ; the right
of electing to the Reichstag was con-
ceded to " the adherents of legally
recognised religions " ; laws were passed
regulating the Press and the National
Guards. The country was almost in a state
of anarchy, as the old pro-
vincial administrations and
local authorities had been
abolished and replaced by
committees of public safety,
according to the precedent
set at Pest. The example of
Austria influenced the course
of events throughout Ger-
many ; there the desire for a
free constitution grew hotter,
and especially so in Berlin.
The taxation committees
were assembled in that
town when the results of
the February
became known. The king
'dismissed them on March 7th,
the excitement prevailing among the
population of the Rhine province would
only be increased by the appearance of
the prince. Despatches from Vienna
further announced the fall of Metternich.
The king now resolved to summon the
united Landtag to Berlin on April 17th ;
M k * it he considered, no doubt,
Mobs at the -1 . i-, . , ,,
_ , jj , that Prussia could very well
in Berlin exercise lier patience for a
month. On March 15th the
first of many riotous crowds assembled
before the royal castle, much excited
by the news from Vienna. Deputations
constantly arrived from the provinces
to give expression to the desire of
the population for some constitutional
definition of their rights. The king went
a step further and altered the date of the
meeting of the Landtag to April 2nd ;
but in the patent of March
i8th he explained his action
by reference only to his duties
as federal ruler, and to his
intention of proposing a
federal reform, to include
" temporary federal repre-
sentation of all German
countries." He even recog-
nised that " such federal
representation implies a form
of- constitution applicable to
all German countries," but
made no definite promise as
MAXIMILIAN ii.-BAVARiA ^o any form of constitution
Revolution He ascended the throne on his for Prussia. Nevertheless, in
father's abdication in 1S4S. Anoble- ai „ Qft<^rnnnn h^ wqc rh*>pi-Arl
minded man, he made an excellent ^^^^ altCrnOOn UC WaS CneeiCQ
king, ruling his people on the ideal by the CrOwd . bcforC the
declaring himself inclined to S^rounds of christian philosophy." ^^g^^^ g^^ ^j^g jg^^g^.^ ^^.
summon the united Landtag at regular
intervals. The declaration failed to give
satisfaction. On the same day a popular
meeting had resolved to request the king
forthwith to convoke the Assembly. In the
quiet town public life became more tlian
usually lively. The working classes were
excited by the agitators sent down to
them ; in inns and cafes newspapers
were read aloud and speeches
made. The king was expecting
an outbreak of war with France.
He sent his confidential mili-
tary adviser, Radowitz, at full speed
to Vienna to arrange measures of defence
with Metternich. He proposed tempo-
rarily to entrust the command of the
Prussian troops upon the Rhine to the
somewhat unpopular Prince William of
Prussia. However, he was warned that
Germany
Preparing
for War
the mob, who desired a rising to secure
their own criminal objects, turned grati-
tude into uproar and bloodshed. The
troops concentrated in the castle under
General von Prittwitz were busy until
midnight clearing the streets.
The authorities had 12,000 men at their
disposal, and could easily have -stormed
the barricades next morning; but the
king's military advisers were unable to
agree upon their action, and his anxiety
and nervousness were increased by the
invited and uninvited citizens who made
their way into the castle. He therefore
ordered the troops to cease firing, and the
next day. after receiving a deputation of
citizens, commanded the troops to concen-
trate upon the castle, and finally to retire,
to barracks. The arguments of such
Liberals as Vincke, and of the Berlin town
491Q
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
The German
States' Distrust
of the King
councillors, induced the king to this
ill-advised step, the full importance of
which he failed to recognise. It implied
the retreat of the monarchical power
before a riotous mob inspired only by
blind antipathy to law and order, who,
far from thanking the king for, sparing
their guilt, proclaimed the
retreat of the troops as a
victory for themselves, and
continued to heap scorn and
insult upon king and troops alike. A
new Ministry was formed on March
19th, the leadership being taken by
Arnim. On the 29th his place was taken
by Ludolf Camphausen, president of the
Cologne Chamber of Commerce, who was
joined by Hanseman and the leaders of
the liberal nobility, Alfred von Auerswald,
Count Maximilian of Schwerin, and Hein-
rich Alexander of Arnim.
The Ministry would have
had no difficulty in forming a
constitution for the state had
not the king reduced the
monarchy to helplessness by
his display of ineptitude.
That honest enthusiasm for*
the national cause which
had led him on March 21st
to escort the banner of black,
red, and gold on horseback
through the streets of Berlin,
far from winning the popular
favour for him, was scorned
FRIEDRICH DAHLMANN
overshadowed by the struggle for
supremacy waged by the masses under
the guidance of ambitious agitators.
On March 5th, 1848, fifty-one of the
better known German politicians met at
Heidelberg upon their own initiative by
invitation ; their object was to discuss
what common action they should take to
guide a' general national movement in
Germany. Most of them belonged to the
Rhine states ; but Prussia, Wiirtemberg,
and Bavaria were represented, and an
Austrian writer who happened to be on the
spot joined the meeting in order to place
it in relation with Austria. The twenty
representatives from Baden included the
radical democrat Hecker, who even then
spoke of the introduction of a republican
constitution as a wish of the German
people. He, however, was obliged to
support the resolution of the
majority, to the effect that
the German nation must
first have the opportunity
of making its voice heard, for
which purpose preparation
must be made for the con-
vocation of a German National
Assembly. All were agreed
upon the futility of waiting
for the Federal Council to take
action ; they must bring their
influence to bear upon the
council and the German gov-
ernment by their own energy,
1 n J T ^ ,1 T-. 1 This distinguished German his- , , , r i ■ i j
and flouted by the Repub- torian was appointed Professor of by the use of accomplished
licans. The energy displayed History at Bonn in 1842, and was facts, and by specific demands,
in summoning the Pai-liament ^^ ^^^ ^ead of the constitutional a committee of seven mem-
was too rapid a change, made liberals in the movement of 184S. |^g^.g ^^^g appointed to invite
the German states distrustful, and exposed
him to degrading refusals, which em-
bittered his mind and lowered his dignity
in the eyes of his own people.
The united Landtag met on April 2nd,
1848, and determined upon the convoca-
tion of a National Assembly, for the pur-
pose of forming a constitution upon the
basis of universal suffrage. To this the
Government agreed, at the same time
insisting that the Prussian constitution
was a matter for arrangement between
themselves and the Assembly. During the
elections, which took place simultaneously
with those to the German Parliament, the
democrats uttered their war-cr}^ to the
effect that the resolutions of the Prussian
National Assembly required no ratification.
Thus the }X)pular claim to a share in the
administration disappeared, and was
4920
a conference on March 30th, at Frank fort-
on-Main, " of all past or present members
of provincial councils and members of
legislative assemblies in all German
countries." together with other public men
of special influence. This "preliminary
coffference " was then to arrive at some
resolutions for the election of the German
National Assembly. Both the Federal
Assembly and the majority
of the German governments
■\dewed these proceedings with
favourable eyes ; they saw
that the nation was at the highest pitch
of excitement, and would be prevented
from rushing into violence by occupation
in political matters. The results of
the Parisian revolution led them to
think the overthrow of every existing
form of government perfectly possible.
The Saving
Force
of Politics
FIGHTING AT THE BARRICADES IN BERLIN ON MARCH ISTH, Ibis
From the drawing by C. Becker
K
4921
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Liberal
Movements in
Saxony
The only remaining course was to treat
with the Liberals and enlist their support
for the existing states and dynasties by the
concession of constitutional rights. Only
in Hanover and in the electorate of Hesse
were there difficulties at the outset.
However, the fall of Metternich shattered
even the pride of Ernest Augustus and of
the Elector Frederic William.
Baden sent the Freiburg pro-
fessor Karl Welcker to Frank-
fort. On March 7th he pro-
posed on behalf of his Government the
convocation of a German Parliament to
discuss and carry out the reform of the
federal constitution in conjunction with
the representatives of the Government. In
Hesse-Darmstadt, Gagern made a similar
proposal in the Chamber. The King of
Wurtemberg called one of the members
of the Heidelberg conference, Friedrich
Romer, to the head of a new Ministry,
to which Paul Pfizer also belonged.
In Saxony, Frederic x\ugustus, after
unnecessarily alarming the inhabitants of
Leipzig by the concentration of troops,
was obliged to give way, to dissolve
the Ministry of Konneritz, and to entrust
the conduct of government business
to the leader of the Progressive Party
in the Second Chamber, Alexander Braun.
Of the Liberals in Saxony, the largest
following was that of Robert Blum,
formerly theatre secretary, bookseller, and
town councillor of Leipzig. He was one of
those trusted public characters who were
summoned to the preliminarj^ conference,
and directed the attention of his associates
to the national tasks immediatelj^ con-
fronting the German people. In the patent
convoking the united Landtag for March
i8th, even the King of Prussia had declared
the formation of a " temporary federal
representation of the states of all German
countries " to be a pressing necessity ;
hence from that quarter no opposition to
the national undertaking of the Heidel-
^ , berg meeting was to be ex-
Conference f j t-- i- j j
, pected. Five hundred repre-
^ c* * sentatives from all parts of
uerman States ^ i ^ t^ 1 j- j
Germany met at i<ranklort-
on-Main for the conference in the last da}'s
of March ; they were received with every
manifestation of delight and respect. The
first general session was held in the Church
of St. Paul, under the presidency of the
Heidelberg jurist, Anton Mittermayer, a
Bavarian by birth ; the conference was
then invited to come to a decision upon one
4022
of the most important questions of German
politics. The committee of seven had
drawn up a programme dealing with the
mode of election to the German National
Assembly, and formulating a number of
fundamental principles for adoption in the
forthcoming federal constitution. These
demanded a federal chief with responsible
Ministers, a senate of the individual states,
a popular representative house with one
deputy to every 70,000 inhabitants of a
German federal state, a united army, and
representation abroad ; a uniformity in the
customs systems, in the means of communi-
cation, in civil and criminal legislation.
This premature haste is to be ascribed
to the scanty political experience of the
German and his love for the cut and
dried ; it gave the Radicals, who had
assembled in force from Baden, Darm-
stadt, Frankfort, and Nassau, under Struve
and Hecker, an opportunity of demanding
similar resolutions upon the future con-
stitution of Germany. Hecker gave an
explanation of the so-called " principles "
propounded by Struve, demanding the
disbanding of the standing army, the
abolition of officials, taxation, and the here-
ditary monarchy, and the
institution of a Parliament
elected without restriction
under a president similarly
elected, all to be united by a federal consti-
tution on the model of the Free States of
North America. Until the German demo-
cracy had secured legislation upon these and
many other points, the Frankfort conference
should be kept on foot, and the government
of Germany continued by an executive
committee elected by universal suffrage.
Instead of receiving these delectable
pueriUties with the proper amount of
amusement, or satirising them as they
deserved, the moderate Democrats and
Liberals were inveigled into serious dis-
cussion with the Radicals. Reports of an
insignificant street fight aroused their fears
and forebodings, and both sides conde-
scended to abuse and personal violence.
Finally, the clearer-sighted members of
the conference succeeded in confining
the debate to the subjects preliminary
to the convocation of the parliament.
The programme of the committee of seven
and the " principles " of the Radicals were
alike excluded from discussion. Hecker' s
proposition for the permanent constitution
of the conference was rejected by 368 votes
to 143, and it was decided to elect a
Deliberations
of the Frankfort
Conference
THE FALL OF LOUIS PHILIPPE
committee of fifty members to continue the
business of the prehminary parhament.
On the question of this business great
divergence of opinion prevailed. The
majority of the members were convinced
that the people should now be left to decide
its own fate, and to determine the legisla-
ture which was to secure the recognition of
its rights. A small minority were agreed
with Gagern upon the necessity of keeping
in touch with the Government and the
Federal Council, and constructing the new
constitution by some form of union
between the national representatives and
the existing executive officials. This was
the first serious misconception of the Liberal
party upon the sphere of action within
which the Parliament would operate. They
discussed the " purification " of the Federal
Council and its " aversion to special reso-
lutions of an unconstitutional nature ; "
they should have united themselves firmly
to the federal authorities, and carried
them to the necessary resolutions.
The mistrust of the liberals for the
government was greater than their disgust
at radical imbecility, a fact as obvious in
the preliminary conference as in the National
«,. ^, . , Assembly which it called into
. °^ °*^'* probably the sole cause of the
erm&ny f^^jjj^y Qf ^j^g efforts made
by upright and disinterested representative
men to guide the national movement in
Germany. Franz von Soiron of Mannheim
proposed that the decision upon the future
German constitution should be left entirely
in the hands of the National Assembly, to
be elected by the people ; with this excep-
tion, the constitutional ideal was aban-
doned and a Utopia set up in its place not
utterly dissimilar to the dream of " the
republic with a doge at its head." Soiron,
who propounded this absurdity, became
president of the committee of fifty.
The mode of election to the National Con-
stituent Assembly realised the most extreme
demands of the Democrats. Every 50,000
inhabitants in a German federal province,
East and West Prussia included, had to
send up a deputy " directly " — that is to
say, appointment was not made by any
existing constitutional corporation. The
Czechs of Bohemia were included without
cavil among the electors of the German
Parliament, no regard being given to the
scornful refusal which they would probably
return. The question of including the
Poles of the Prussian Baltic provinces was
left to the decision of the parliament itself.
The Federal Council, in which Karl Welcker
had already become influential, prudently
accepted the resolutions of the preliminary
conference and communicated them to the
individual states, whose business it was to
carry them out. Feeling in the different
governments had undergone a rapid
transformation, and in Prussia
even more than elsewhere.
Prussia
Merged in
Germany
On March 21st, after parad-
ing Berlin with the German
colours, Frederic William IV. had made
a public declaration, expressing his readi-
ness to undertake the direction of German
affairs. His exuberance led him to the
following pronouncement : "I have to-day
asumed the ancient German colours and
placed myself and my people under the hon-
ourable banner of the German Empire. Prus-
sia is henceforward merged in Germany."
These words would have created a great
effect had the king been possessed of the
power which was his by right, or had
he given any proof of capacity to rule his
own people or to defend his capital from
the outrages of a misled and passionately
excited mob. But the occurrences at Berlin
during March had impaired his prestige
with every class ; he was despised by the
Radicals, and the patriotic party mistrusted
his energy and his capacity for maintaining
his dignity in a difficult situation.
Moreover, the German governments
had lost confidence in the power of the
Prussian state. Hesse-Darmstadt, Baden,
Nassau, and Wiirtemberg had shown them-
selves ready to confer full powers upon the
King of Prussia for the formation, in their
name, of a new federal constitution with
provision for the popular rights. They
were also wilhng to accept him as head of
the federation, a position which he desired,
while declining the imperial title with
which the cheers of the Berlin population
had greeted him. When, however. Max
von Gagern arrived in Berlin at the head of
an embassy from the above-
mentioned states, the time for
the enterprise had gone by ; a
king who gave way to rebels
and did obeisance to the corpses of mob
leaders was not the man for the dictator-
ship of Germany at so troublous a time.
Notwithstanding their own difficulties,
the Vienna government had derived some
advantage from the events at Berlin ;
there was no reason for them to resign
their position in Germany. The Emperor
4923
Frederic
William not a
Favourite
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Ferdinand need never yield to Frederic
William IV. The Austrian statesmen were
sure of the approval of the German people,
even of the national and progressive parties,
if they straightway opposed Prussian
interference in German politics. Relying
upon nationalist sentiment and appealing
to national sovereignty, they might play
, oH the German parliament
^.^ "^^^ against the King of Prussia.
Claims A . • xi 1- •
J . . Austria was, upon the showmg
of the government and the
popular leaders, the real Germany. Austria
claimed the precedence of all German
races, and therefore the black, red, and
gold banner flew on the Tower of
Stephan, and the kindly emperor waved
it before the students, who cheered him
in the castle. The offer of Prussian
leadership was declined ; the German
constitution was to be arranged by the
federal council and the parliament, and
Austria would there be able to retain
the leading position which was her right.
The case of the King of Prussia was suffi-
ciently disheartening ; but no less serious
for the development of the German move-
ment was the attitude of the Liberals
towards the Republicans. The professions
and avowals of the latter had not been
declined with the decisiveness that belong
to honest monarchical conviction. Even
before the meeting of Parliament dis-
turbances had been set on foot by the
Baden Radicals, and it became obvious
that Radicalism could result only in civil
war and would imperil the national welfare.
The Struve-Hecker party was deeply
disappointed with the results of the pre-
Hminary conference. It had not taken
over the government of Germany ; no
princes had been deposed, and even the
federal council had been left untouched.
The leaders, impelled thereto by their
French associates, accordingly resolved to
initiate an armed revolt in favour of the
republic. The " moderate " party had
The Mad cleared the way by assenting
Schemed of ^° ^^^ proposal of " national
Agitators armament." Under the pretext
of initiating a scheme of public
defence, arms for the destruction of con-
stitutional order were placed in the hands
of the ruffians who had been wandering
about the Rhineland for weeks in the hope
of robbery and plunder, posing as the
retinue of the great " friends of the people."
Acuter politicians, like Karl Mathy, dis-
covered too late that it was now necessary
4924
to stake their whole personal influence in
the struggle against radical insanity and
the madness of popular agitators. In
person he arrested the agitator Joseph
Fickler, when starting from Karlsruhe to
Constance to stir up insurrection ; but his
bold example found few imitators. The
evil was not thoroughly extirpated, as the
" people's men " could not refrain from
repeating meaningless promises of popular
supremacy and the downfall of tyrants at
every public-house and platform where
they thought they could secure the applause
for which they thirsted like actors.
Hecker had maintained communications
with other countries from Karlsruhe, and
had been negotiating for the advance of
contingents from Paris, to be paid from
the resources of Ledru-Rollin. After
Fickler's imprisonment on April 8th he
became alarmed for his own safety, and
fled to Constance. There, in conjunction
with Struve and his subordinates, Doll,
Willich, formerly a Prussian lieutenant,
Mogling of Wiirtemberg, and Bruhe of
Holstein, he issued an appeal to all who
were capable of bearing arms to concen-
trate at Donaueschingen on
April 12th, for the purpose of
_ ... founding the German republic.
Republicans ttt-,, ° , i- r nr^
With a republican army of fifty
men he marched on the 13th from Con-
stance, where the republic had maintained
its existence for a whole day. In the plains
of the Rhine a junction was to be effected
with the " legion of the noble Franks,"
led by the poet George Herwegh and his
Jewish wife. In vain did two deputies
from the committee of fifty* in Frankfort
advise the Republicans to lay down their
arms. Their overtures were rejected with
contumely. The eighth federal army corps
had been rapidly mobilised, and the troops
of Hesse and Wiirtemberg brought this
insane enterprise to an end in the almost
bloodless conflicts of Kandern on April 20th,
and Giintersthal at Freiburg on April 23rd,
The Republicans were given neither time
nor opportunity^ for any display of their
Teutonic heroism. Their sole exploit was
the shooting of thfe general Friedrich von
Gagern from an ambush as he was return-
ing to his troops from an unsuccessful
conference with Hecker. Herwegh 's French
legion was dispersed at Dossenbach on
April 26th by a company of Wiirtemberg
troops. These warriors took refuge for the
time being in Switzerland with the "gen-
erals" Hecker, Struve, and Franz Siegl.
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE.
IN
REVOLUTION
II
ITALY'S FRUITLESS REVOLT
AND AUSTRIA'S SUCCESS UNDER RADETZKY
AS early as Jarraary, 1848, the popula-
tion of the Lombard States had begun
openly to display their animosity to the
Austrians. The secret revolutionary com-
mittees, who took their instructions from
Rome and Turin, organised demonstra-
tions, and forbade the purchase of Aus-
trian cigars and lottery tickets, the profits
of which went to the Austrian exchequer.
Threats and calls for blood and vengeance
upon the troops were placarded upon the
walls, and cases of assassination occurred.
Field-Marshal Count Radetzky had felt
certain that the national movement, begun
in the Church States, would extend
throughout Italy, and oblige Austria to
defend her territory by force of arms.
He was also informed of the warlike feeling
in Piedmont and of the secret prepara-
tions which were in progress there. This
view was well founded. Any dispassionate
judgment of the political situation in the
. , peninsula showed that the
a ton s governments of the individual
earning r g^g^^^g ^yg^ g j^ a dilemma ; either
they must join the national
yearning for liberation from the foreign rule
and help their subjects in the struggle, or
they would be forced to yield to the victor-
ious advance of republicanism. The Savoy
family of Carignan, the only ruling house
of national origin, found no difficulty in
deciding the question. As leaders of the
patriotic party they might attain a highly
important position, and at least become
the leaders of a Federal Italy ; while they
were forced to endanger their kingdom,
whatever side they took.
Radetzky was indefatigable in his
efforts to keep the Vienna government
informed of the approaching danger, but
his demands for reinforcements to the
troops serving in the Lombard- Venetian
provinces were disregarded. The old War
Minister, Count H. Hardegg, who sup-
ported Radetzky, was harshly dismissed
from his position in the exchequer, and
died of vexation at the affront. Not all
the obtuseness and vacillation of the
Vienna bureaucracy could shake the old
field-marshal — on August ist, 1847, he
began his sixty-fourth year of service in
the imperial army — from his conviction
that the Austrian house meant to defend
its Italian possessions. He was well aware
that the very existence of the monarch}
. , was involved in this question
C ^'T ^ d °^ predominance in Italy. A
omp ica e j^Q^ient when every nationality
Pontics united under the Hapsburg
rule was making the most extravagant
demands upon the state was not the
moment voluntarih' to abandon a position
of the greatest moral value.
After the outbreak of the revolt many
voices recommended an Austrian retreat
from Lombardy to Venice. It was thought
impossible that these two countries, with
independent governments of their own,
could be incorporated in so loosely
articulated a federation as the Austrian
Empire seemed likely to become. Such
counsels were not inconceivable in view
of the zeal with which kings and ministers,
professors, lawyers, and authors plunged
into the elaboration of political blunders
and misleading theories ; but to follow them
would have been to increase rather than to
diminish the difficulties of Austrian politics,
which grew daily more complicated.
In the turmoil of national and demo-
cratic aspirations and programmes the
idea of the Austrian state was for-
gotten ; its strength and dignity depended
upon the inflexibility and upon
National ^^^ ultimate victory of Rad-
. jj etzky and his army. The war in
m Italy j^^^^. ^^^^ ^ national war, more
especially for the Austro-Germans ; for
passion, even for an ideal, cannot impress
the German and arouse his admiration to
the same extent as the heroic fulfilment of
duty. Additional influences upon the
Austrians were the military assessment,
their delight in proved military supe-
riority, and their military traditions.
4925
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Nationalism was indisputably an animat-
ing •force among the Germans of the
Alpine districts. Never did Franz Grill-
parzer so faithfully represent the Austrian
spirit as in the oft-repeated words which
he ascribed to the old field-marshal,
upholding the ancient imperial banner
upon Guelf soil : " In thy camp is Austria ;
^, _, ... we are but single fragments."
The Vanished j, ■ , j-cc i- . •
It IS not difficult to imagine
that a statesman of unusual
Power of
the Hapsburgs
penetration and insight might
even then have recognised that Austria
was no longer a force in Germany,
that the claim of the Hapsburgs to lead
the German nation had disappeared with
the Holy Roman Empire. We may
conceive that, granted^ such recognition
of the facts, a jvist division of influence and
power in Central Europe might have been
brought about by the peaceful compromise
with Prussia ; but it was foolishness to
expect the House of Hapsburg voluntarily
to begin a partition of the countries
which had fallen to be hers.
The acquisition of Italy had been a mis-
take on the part of Metternich; but the
mistake could not be mended by a surrender
of rights at the moment when hundreds
of claims would be pressed. To maintain
the integrit}' of the empire was to preserve
its internal solidarity and to uphold the
monarchical power. The monarchy could
produce no more convincing evidence
than the victories of the army. An army
which had retreated before the Pied-
montese and the Guelf guerrilla troops
would never have gained another victory,
even in Hungary.
In an army order of January 15th, 1848,
Radetzky announced in plain and un-
ambiguous terms that the Emperor of
Austria was resolved to defend the Lom-
bard-Venetian kingdom against internal
and external enemies, and that he himself
proposed to act in accordance with the
imperial will. He was, however, unable
Outbreak ^"^ "^^^^ ^^ strategical pre-
of the parations for the approaching
Revolution struggle ; he had barely troops
enough to occupy the most im-
portant towns, and in every case the
garrisons were entirely outnumbered by
the population. Hence it has been asserted
that the revolution took him by surprise.
The fact was that he had no means of
forestalling a surprise, and was obliged to
modify his measures in proportion to the
forces at his disposal. The crowds began
4926
to gather on March 17th, when the news
of the Vienna revolution reached Milan ;
street fighting began on the i8th and 19th,
and the marshal was forced to concentrate
his scattered troops upon the gates and
walls of the great city, lest he should
find himself shut in by an advancing
Piedmontese army.
On March 21st it became certain that
Charles Albert of Sardinia would cross
the Ticino with his army. Radetzky left
Milan and retreated beyond the Mincio
to the strong fortress of Verona, which,
with Mantua, Peschiera, and Legnago,
formed the "Quadrilateral " which became
famous in the following campaign. Most
of the garrisons in the Lombard towns
were able to cut their way through,
comparatively few surrendering. However,
the 61,000 infantry of the imperial army
were diminished by the desertion of the
twenty Italian battalions which belonged
to it, amounting to 10,000 men. It was
necessary to abandon most of the state
chests ; the field-marshal could only
convey from Milan to Verona half a
million florins in coined money, which was
_. -- saved by the division stationed
The New -^
Republic of
Venice
in Padua, which made a rapid
advance before the outbreak of
the revolt. Venice had thrown
off the yoke. The lawyer Daniel Manin,
of Jewish family, and therefore not a
descendant of Lodovico Manin, the last
doge, had gained over the arsenal workers.
With their help he had occupied the
arsenal and overawed the field-marshal,
Count Ferdinand Zichy, a brother-in-
law of Metternich, who \T'as military
commander in conjunction with the civil
governor. Count Palffy of Erdod. Zichy
surrendered on March 22nd; on condi-
tion that the non-Italian garrison should
be allowed to depart unmolested. Manin
became president of the new democratic
Republic of Venice, which was joined
by most of the towns of the former
Venetian terra firma ; Great Biitain and
France, however, declined to recognise the
republic, which was soon forced to make
common cause with Sardinia. iMantua
was preserved to the Austrians by the
bold and imperturbable behaviour of the
commandant -general. Von Gorczkowski.
The Italian nationalist movement had
also spread to the South T\to1. On
March 19th the inhabitants of Trent
demanded the incorporation into Lom-
bardy of the Trentino — that is, the district
ITALY'S FRUITLESS REVOLT
of the former prince-bishopric of Trent.
The appearance of an Austrian brigade
under General von Zobel to reheve the
hard-pressed garrison of the citadel secured
the Austrian possession of this important
town, and also strengthened the only line
of communication now open between
Radetzky's headquarters and the Austrian
government, the hue through the Tyrol.
The defence of their country was now
undertaken by the German Tyrolese them-
selves ; they called out the defensive
forces which their legislature had provided
for centuries past, and occupied the
frontiers. They were not opposed by the
Italian population on the south, who
in many cases volunteered to serve in the
defence of their territory ; hence the
revolutionary towns were unable to make
head against these opponents,
oi to maintain regular com-
munication with the revolu-
tionists advancing against the
frontier. Wherever the latter
attempted to break through
they were decisively defeated
by the admirable Tyrolese
guards, who took up arms
against the " Guelfs " with
readiness and enthusiasm.
On March 29th, 1848. the
King of Sardinia crossed the
Ticino, without any formal
declaration of war, ostensibly
to protect his own territories.
He had at his disposal three He
Deciding
Point in the
Revolution
After the despatch of the troops required
to cover the Etsch valley and to garrison
the fortresses, Radetzky was left with
only 35,000 men ; he was able, how-
ever, with nineteen Austrian battalions,
sixteen squadrons, and eighty-one guns,
to attack and decisively defeat the king
at Santa Lucia on May 6th, as he was
advancing with 41,000 men
and eighty guns. The Zehner
light infantry under Colonel
Karl von Kopal behaved admir-
ably ; the Archduke Francis Joseph, heir
presumptive, also took part in the battle.
The conspicuous services of these bold
warriors to the fortunes of Austria have
made this obstinate struggle especially
famous in the eyes of their compatriots.
Radetzky's victory at Santa Lucia is the
_ turning-point in the history of
the Italian revolution.
The Austrian troops
definitely established the fact
of their superiority to the
l^iedmontese, by far the best
nf the Italian contingents.
Conscious of this, the little
army was inspired with con-
fidence in its own powers and
in the generalship of the aged
marshal, whose heroic spirit
was irresistible. Many young
men from the best families of
Vienna and the Alpine districts
took service against the
Italians. The healthy-minded
DANIEL MANIN
became President of the
divisions, amounting to about ^f^e"r"he cfp^'ulation of'^enTce studcnts wcre glad to escape
4'^, 000 men, and after Raining in the following year escaped from the aula of the Uni-
^-" , , . °i, ° to Paris, where he died in 1857.
several successes m small con-
flicts at Goito, Valeggio, and elsewhere,
against weak Austrian divisions, he ad-
vanced to the Mincio on April loth. Mazzini
had appeared in Milan after the retreat
of the Austrians ; but the advance of the
Piedmontese prevented the installation
of a republican administi;3.tion. For a
moment the national movement was
concentrated solely upon the
struggle against the Austrian
supremacy. Tumultuous public
demonstrations forced the petty
and central states of Italy to send their
troops to the support of the Piedmontese.
In this way nearly 40,000 men from Naples,
Catholic Switzerland, Tuscany, Modena,
and elsewhere were concentrated on the
Po under the orders of General Giacomo
Durando,to begin the attack on the Austrian
position in conjunction with Charles Albert.
The Forces
Opposed
to Austria
versify of Vienna, with its
turgid orations and sham patriotism, and
to shed their blood for the honour of
their nation side by side with the brave
" volunteers," who went into action with
jest and laugh. Such events considerably
abated the enthusiasm of the Italians,
who began to learn that wars cannot be
waged by zeal alone, and that their fiery
national spirit gave them no superiority
in the use of the rifle.
Radetzky was not to be tempted into a
reckless advance by the brilliant success
he had attained ; after thus vigorously
repulsing Charles Albert's main force, he
remained within his quadrilateral of for-
tresses, awaiting the arrival of the reserves
which were being concentrated in Austria ;
16,000 infantry, eight squadrons of cavalry,
and fifty-four guns marched from Isonzo
under Laval, Count Nugent, master of the
4927
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
ordnance, an old comrade of Radetzky.
He was an Irishman by birth, and had
entered the Austrian army in 1703 ; in
1812 he had seen service
in Spain during the War
of Liberation,, andin.1813
had led the revolt on the
coast districts. On April
22nd Nugent captured
Udine, and advanced b}-
way of Pordenone and
Conegliano to . Belluno,
Feltre, and Bassano,
covering^ his flank by the
mountains, as Durando's
corps had gone northward
from the Po to prevent
his junction with Rad-
etzky. Nugent fell sick,
and after continual fight-
ing, Count Thurn led the
reserves to San Boniface
at Verona, where he
came into touch ^vith the
main arni}^ on May 22nd.
Meanwhile, the monarchical government
in Naples had succeeded in defsating
the Repubhcans, and the king accordingly
recalled the Neapolitan army, which had
already advanced to the Po. The summons
was obeyed except by 2,000 men, with
whom General Pepe re-
inforced the ■ Venetian
contingent. This change
materially diminished the
danger which had threat-
ened Radetzky's deft
flank ; he was now able
to take the offensive
against the Sardinian
army, and advanced
against Curtatone and
Goito from Mantua,
whither he had amved
on May 28th with two
, corps and part of the
. reserves. He proposed
#; to relieve Peschiera,
^ which was invested by
Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II. granted ^hc Dukc of GcUOa ; but
a liberal constitution to his people, and the garrisou had received
thought he had satisfied all their demands, but j-q ngws of the advanCe
a revolt broke out, and he fled Lo Gaeta
LEOPOLD
of the main army, and were
forced from lack of provisions to suiTender
on May 30th. However, after a fierce
struggle at Monte Berico on June loth, in
iHE BOMBARDMENT OF MESSINA IN SEPTEMBER, 1S48
j ne town of Messina which lately was the scene of a destructive earthquake, suffered severely in September, 184,-^,
during the rising of Italy against Austria. Under the bombardment of General Filangieri, the town was exposed
to a heavy fire ; many houses were destroyed and burned and thousands of dead bodies lay in the streets.
4928
ARRANGING TERMS OF PEACE: THE MEETING OF VICTOR EMMANCTEL AND RADETZKY
In this picture there is represented the meeting- of the two principals in the war between Sardinia and Austria, Victor
Emmanuel II. and Count Radetzky, which took place on March 24th, 1849, at the farmstead of Vignale. Anarmistice
vas agreed to on conditions which were to serve as the basis of a peace, finally concluded in the following August.
j^oiii the painting by Aldi. in the PlKice of the Signory. Siena
which Colonel von Kopal, the Roland of the
Aastrian army, was killed, Radetzky
captured Vicenza, General Durando being
allowed- to retreat with the Roman and
Tuscan troops. They were joined by the
" crociati," crusaders, who had occupied
Treviso. Padua was also evacuated by
the revolutionaries, and almost the whole
of the Venetian province was thus re-
covered by the Austrians. Fresh re-
inforcements from Austria were employed
in the formation of a second reserve
corps under General von Welden on the
Piave ; this force was to guard Venetia
on the land side.
At this period the provisional govern-
ment in Milan offered the Lombard-
Venetian crown to' the King of Sardinia.
Charles Albert might reasonably hope to
wear it, as the Austrian Government,
which had retired to Innsbruck on the
renewal of disturbances in Vienna, showed
some inclination to conclude an armistice
ill Italy. Britain and France, however,
had declared the surrender by Austria of
the Italian provinces to be an indispens-
able preliminary to peace negotiations.
Radetzky hesitated to begin negotiations
for this purpose, and remained firm in
his resolve to continue the war, for which
he made extensive preparations in the
course of June and July, 1848. He formed
a third army corps in South Tyrol, under
Count Thurn, a fourth in Legnago, under
General von Culoz, and was then able
with the two corps already on foot to
4929
In the hope of re-establishing- her ancient form of g-overnment under the presidency of Manin, Venice rose in
revolt ag-ainst Austria in 1848, hut after a fifteen months' siege of the city the Austrians compelled it to capitulate.
The enthusiasm of the citizens of Venice in their revolt against Austria was shared by all classes, even the
women and children desiring to have some part in the struggle for liberty, and bringing their jewels, as shown
in the above picture, to raise money for the defence of the city against the attack of their bated enemy.
SCENES IN THE SIEGE OF VENICE BY THE AUSTRIANS IN 1848-49
4930
ITALY'S FRUITLESS REVOLT
attack the king in his entrenchments at
Sona and Sommacampagna. Operations
began here on July 23rd, and ended on the
25th with the Battle of Custozza. The
king was defeated, and Radetzky secured
command of the whole line of the Mincio.
Charles Albert now made proposals for
an armistice. Radetzky's demands, how-
ever, were such as the king found impos-
sible to entertain. He was forced to
give up the line of the Adda, which the
field-marshal crossed with three army
corps on August ist without a struggle.
The Battle of Milan on.the 4th-So clearly
demonstrated the incapacity of the Pied-
montese troops that the king must have
welcomed the rapidity of the Austrian
advance as facilitating his escape from the
raging mob with its cries of treason.
Radetzky . entered Milan on
August 6th and . was well
received by some. part of the
population. Peschiera was
evacuated on the xoth. With
the exception of Venice, the
kingdom of the double crown
had now been restored to the
emperor. An armistice was
concluded between Austria
and Sardinia on August 9th
for six weeks ; it was pro-
longed by both sides, though
without formal stipulation,
through the autumn of 1848
and the winter of 1848-1849.
Radetzky
Ready for
Emergencies
■■"^A
t>^ ^fl
k
jflP^ ^ (^^^1
^L,
ijH»;i&- ^;» ,^^H
■1
MARSHAL RADETZKY
persecutions of the 'thirties, harassed the
Austrians with the adherents who had
gathered round them. They operated in
the neighbourhood of Lago Maggiore,
where they could easily withdraw into
Swiss territory, and also' stirred their
associates in Piedmont to fresh activity.
King Charles Albert saw that a renewal
of the campaign against the
Austrians was the only means
of avoiding the revolution with
which he also was threatened.
He had, therefore, by dint of energetic
preparation, succeeded in raising his army
to 100,000 men. He rightly. saw that a
victory would bring all the patriots over
to his side ; but he had no faith in this
possibihty, and announced the termina-
tion .of the armistice on March 12th,
1849, ^^ 3, tone of despair.
Radetzky had long expected
this move, and, far from
being taken . unawares, had
made preparations to surprise
his adversary. Instead of
retiring to the Adda, as the
Sardinian had expected, he
started from Lodi with 58,000
men and 186 guns, and made
a turn to the right upon Pavia.
On March 20th he crossed the
Ticino and moved upon
Mortara, while Charles Albert
made a. corresponding man-
oeuvre at Buffalora and
In Tuscany the Grand Duke Ri^^t^caiied'- the saviour of the entered Lombard territory
Leopold II thought he Monarchy." this great marshal led at Magenta. He had CU-
had completely satisfied the i'ft^e^r^ott^"Sn^° Xuaifan trusted the command of his
national and political desires "^'"^ =^"'' i"^"*^^ ^^^ Revolution, ^i-^^y to the Polish revolu-
of his people by the grant of a liberal con- tionary general, _ Adalbert Chrzanowski,
stitution and by the junction of his troops
with the Piedmont army. ..Since the time of
the great Medici, this fair province had
never been so prosperous as under the mild
rule of the Hapsburg grand duke ; but
the Republicans gave it no rest. They
seized the harbour of Livorno and also
17.1-1. c t. 'tlie government of Florence
Grfnd Dukl ^^ .I'ebruary, 1849, uuder the
. ''*" .J It* leadership pfMazzini's follower,
Leopold II. T^ TA • /"
r rancesco Dpmemco Guerrazzi,
whom Leopold was forced to appoint
Minister. The grand duke fled to Gaeta,
where Pope Pius IX. had sought refuge
at the end of November, 1848, from the
Republicans, who were besieging him in
the Quirinal. Mazzini and his friend
Giuseppe Garibaldi, who had led a life of
adventure in South America after the
whose comrade, Ramorino, led a division
formed of Lombard fugitives. Radetzky's
bold flank movement had broken the con-
nection of the Sardinian forces ; Chrzan-
owski was forced hastily to despatch two
divisions to Vigevano and Mortara to check
the Austrian advance, which was directed
against the Sardinian line of retreat.
The stronghold of Mortara was captured
on March 2ist by the corps d'Aspre, the
first division of which was led by the
Archduke Albert. The Sardinian leaders
were then forced to occupy Novara with
54,000 men and 122 guns, their troops
available at the moment. Tactically the
position was admirable, and here they
awaited the decisive battle. Retreat to
Vercelli was impossible, in view of the
advancing Austrian columns.
4931
HARMS WORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
On IMarch 23rd Radetzky despatched
his four corps to converge upon Novara.
About II a.m. the Archduke Albert began
the attack u]K-)n the heights of Bicocca,
which formed the key to the Itahan
position. For "four hours 15,000 men held
out against 50,000, until the corps ad-
vancing on the road from Vercelli were
able to come into action at
King and 3 p_ni_ This movement decided
General in ^he struggle. In the evening the
Conference r^ ,. . "C> • / j ?
Sardmians were ejected from
the heights of Novara and retired within
the town, which was at once bombarded.
The tactical arrangement of the Italians
was ruined by the disorder of their con-
verging columns, and many soldiers were
able to take to flight. Further resistance
was impossible, and the king demanded
an armistice of Radetzky, which was
refused. Charles Albert now abdicated,
resigning his crown to Victor Emmanuel,
Duke of Savoy, his heir, who happened
to be present. During the night he was
allowed to pass through the Austrian
lines and to make his way to Tuscany.
On the morning of March 24th, King
Victor Emmanuel had a conversation with
Radetzky in the farmstead of Vignale,
and arranged an armistice on conditions
which were to serve as the basis of a
future peace. The status quo ante in
respect of territorial possession was to
be restored ; the field-marshal waived
the right of marching into Turin,
which lay open to him, but re-
tained the Lomellina, the country be-
tween the Ticino and the Sesia, which he
occupied with 21,000 men until the con-
clusion of the peace. It was stipulated
that Sardinia should withdraw her ships
from the Adriatic and her troops from
Tuscany, Parma, and Modena, and should
forthwith disband the Hungarian, Polish,
and Lombard volunteer corps serving with
the army. Brescia, which the Republicans
had occupied after the retreat of the
G 'b Id" Austrians from Milan, was
w'thd'raws ^^°™^d °^ April ist by General
from Rome ^'^^ Haynau, who brought up
his reserve corps from Padua.
In the preceding battles the Italians had
committed many cruelties upon Austrian
prisoners and wounded soldiers. For this
reason the conquerors gave no quarter to
the defenders of the town ; all who were
caught in arms were cut down, and the
houses burned from which firing had pro-
ceeded. With the defeat of Sardinia the
4932
Italian nationalist movement became pur-
poseless. The restoration of constitutional
government in the Church States, Tuscany,
and the duchies was opposed only by the
democrats. Their resistance was, however,
speedily broken by the Austrian troops,
Bologna and Ancona alone necessitating
special efforts ; the former was occupied on
May 15th, the latter on the 19th. Under
Garibaldi's leadership Rome offered a
vigorous resistance to the French and Nea-
politans, who were attempting to secure the
restoration of the Pope at his own desire.
The French general Victor Oudinot, a
son of the marshal of that name under
Napoleon I., was obliged to invest the
Eternal City in form from June ist to
July 3rd with 20,000 men, until the
population perceived the hopelessness of
defence and forced Garibaldi to withdraw
with 3,000 Republicans. From the date
of her entry into Rome until the year 1866,
and again from 1867 to 1870, France
maintained a garrison in the town for the
protection of the Pope. Venice continued
to struggle longest for her independence.
Manin rejected the summons to surrender
even after he had received in-
Italy's
Power
Crushed
formation of the overthrow and
abdication of Charles Albert.
The Austrians were compelled to
drive parallels against the fortifications
in the lagoons, of which Fort Malghera
was the most important, and to bombard
them continuously. It was not until
communication between the town and the
neighbouring coast line was entirely cut
off by a flotilla of rowing boats that the
failure of provisions and supplies forced
the town council to surrender.
Italy was thus unable to free herself by
her own efforts. Since the summer of
1848 the Austrian Government had been
forced to find troops for service against
the rebels in Hungary. It was not until
the autumn that the capital of Vienna
had been cleared of rioters ; yet Austria
had been able to provide the forces neces-
sary to crush the Italian power. Her
success was due to the generalship and
capacity of the great marshal, who is
rightly called the saviour of the monarchy,
and in no less degree to the admirable
spirit, fidelity, and devotion of the officers,
and to the superior bravery and endurance
of the German and Slav troops. High as
the national enthusiasm of the Italians
rose, it could never compensate for their
lack of discipline and military capacity.
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE
IN
REVOLUTION
III
THE HUNGARIAN REBELLION
DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF LOUIS KOSSUTH
'X'HE struggle between Italy and Austria
-'■ may be considered as inevitable ; each
side staked its resources upon a justifiable
venture. The same cannot be said of the
Hungarian campaign. Under no urgent
necessity, without the proposition of any
object of real national value, blood was
uselessly and wantonly shed, and the most
lamentable aberrations and political
blunders were committed. The result was
more than a decade of bitter suffering,
both for the Magyars and for the other
peoples of the Hapsburg monarchy.
Such evils are due to the fact that
revolutions never succeed in establish-
ing a situation in any way tolerable;
they burst the bonds of oppression and
avenge injustice, but interrupt the normal
course of development and of constitutional
progress, thereby postponing improve-
ments perfectly attainable in themselves.
Both in Vienna and in Hungary the month
of March had been a time of great con-
fusion. In the sudden excite-
ment of the population and the
vacillation of the Government,
rights had been extorted and
were recognised ; but their exercise was
impeded, if not absolutely prevented, by
the continued existence of the state. In
Vienna the most pressing questions were the
right of the students to carry arms and to
enter public life ; in Hungary, the creation
of a special war office and an exchequer
board of unlimited power.
The students were the leading spirits of
political life in Vienna. There was no con-
stitutional matter, no question of national
or administrative policy, m which they had
not interfered and advanced their demands
in the name of the people. Movements in the
capital, the seat of government, were there-
fore characterised by a spirit of immaturity,
or, rather, of childishness. Quiet and
deliberate discussion on business methods
was unknown, every conclusion was re-
jected as soon as made, and far-sighted men
of experience and knowledge of admini-
Confusionin
Vicnaa
and Hungary
strative work were refused a hearing.
Fluent and empty-headed demagogues,
acquainted with the art of theatrical rant,
enjoyed the favour of the excitable middle
and working classes, and unfortunately
were too often allowed a determining voice
and influence in government
„ " t". circles. Any systematic and
Politicians r , ■' ■ X J.U • i,i„
. y,. purposeful exercise of the rights
that had been gained was, under
these circumstances, impossible, for no one
could appreciate the value of these con-
cessions. Like children crying for the moon,
they steadily undermined constituted
authority and could put nothing in its place.
The students were seduced and exploited
by ignorant journalists, aggressive hot-
headed Jews, inspired with all Borne's
hatred of monarchical institutions ; any
sensible proposal was obscured by a veil of
Heine-like cynicism. To the journalists
must be added the grumblers and the base-
born, who hoped to secure lucrative posts
by overthrowing the influence of the more
respectable and conscientious men. These
so-called "Democrats" gained the considera-
tion even of the prosperous classes by reason
of their association with the students, who
represented popular feeling.
They controlled the countless clubs
and unions of the National Guard in
the suburbs, and stirred up the working
classes, which in Vienna were in the
depths of political ignorance ; they had
been, moreover, already inflamed by the
emissaries which the revolutionary societies
sent out into France, Switzerland, and
West Germany, and were inspired with the
wildest dreams of the approach
Democrats ^^ ^ ^^^^, ^^^^ bringing freedom,
"m*'"f licence, and material enjoy-
a New tra ^^^^ -^ boundless measure.
Together with the Jews, the Poles also
attained to great importance, especially
after the disturbances in the Polish
districts of Austria had been crushed by
the energies of Count Franz Stadion,
governor of Galicia, and of the town
4933
HARMSWORTH HISTORY' OF THE WORLD
commandant of Cracow. The agitators who
were there thrown out of employment
received a most brilhant reception at
Vienna, and their organisation of " hght-
ning petitions " and street parades soon
made them indispensable. On April 25th,
1848, was published the Constitution of
Pillersdorf, a hastily constructed scheme,
but not without merit ; on May 9th,
the election arrangements followed. Both
alike were revolutionary ; they disregarded
the rights of the Landtag, and far from
attempting to remodel existing material,
created entirely new institutions in accord-
ance with the political taste prevailing at
the moment. Cen -
tralisation was a fun-
damental principle of
these schemes ; they
presupposed the ex-
istence of a united
territorial empire
under uniform ad-
ministration, from
which only Hungary
and the Lombard-
Venetian kingdom
were tacitly excluded.
The Reichstag was to
consist of a Senate
and a Chamber of
Deputies. The Senate
was to include male
members of the im-
perial house over
twenty-four years of
age, an undetermined
number of life-mem-
bers nominated by
the emperor, and 150
representatives from
among the great land-
owners ; in the Cham-
LOUIS KOSSUTH
Leader of the Hungarian Revolution, Louis Kossuth was
gifted with wonderful eloquence, and was able to impart
his own enthusiasm to the people whom he led. He was
ber thirty-one towns appointed provisional Governor of Hungary after the were
and electoral districts National Assembly had declared the throne vacant
of 50,000 inhabitants each v.'ere to appoint
383 deputies through their delegates.
From the outset the Radicals were
opp>osed to a senate and the system of
indirect election ; the true spirit of free-
dom demanded one Chamber and direct
election without reference to property
or taxation burdens. Such a system was
the expression of the people's rights, for
the " people " consisted, naturally, of
Democrats. All the moderate men, all
who wished to fit the people for their re-
sponsibilities by some political education,
were aristocrats, and aristocrats were
4934
enemies of the people, to be crushed,
muzzled, and stripped of their rights.
Popular dissatisfaction at the constitu-
tion was increased by the dismissal of the
Minister of War, Lieutenant Field-Marshal
Peter Zanini, and the appointment of
Count Theodor Baillet de Latour on April
28th. The former was a narrow-minded
scion of the middle class, and incapable of
performing his duties, for which reason he
enjoyed the confidence of the Democrats.
The latter was a general of distinguished
theoretical and practical attainments,
and popular with the army ; these facts
and his title made him an object of suspicion
to the "people." At
the beginning of May
the people proceeded
to display their dis-
satisfaction with the
ministerial president.
Count Karl Ficquel-
mont, by the howls
and whistling of the
students. On May
14th the students
fortified themselves
with inflammatory
speeches m the aula
and allied themselves
with the working
classes ; on the 15 th
they burst into the
imperial castle and
surprised Pillersdorf,
who gave way with-
out a show of resist-
ance, acting on the
false theory that the
chief task of the
Government was to
avoid any immediate
conflict. Concessions
granted pro-
viding for the for-
mation of a central committee of the de-
mocratic unions, the occupation of half the
outposts by National Guards, and the
convocation of a "Constituent Reichstag "
with one Chamber.
The imperial family, which could no
longer expect protection in its own house
from the Ministry, left Vienna on May 17th
and went to Innsbruck, where it was
out of reach of the Democrats and
their outbursts of temper, and could more
easily join hands with the Italian army.
It was supported, from June 3rd, by
Johann von Wessenberg, Minister of
THE HUNGARIAN REBELLION
Foreign Affairs, a diplomatist of the old
federal period, but of wide education and
clever enough to see that in critical
times success is only to be attained by
boldness of decision and a certain spirit of
daring. After Radetzky's victory on the
Mincio he speedily convinced himself
that compliance with the desires of France
and Britain for the cession of the Lom-
bard-Venetian kingdom would be an
absolute error — one, too, which would
arouse discontent and irritation in the
army, and so affect the conclusion of the
domestic difficulty ; he therefore decisively
rejected the interposition of the Western
Powers in the Italian question.
Wessenberg accepted as seriously meant
the emperor's repeated declarations of his
desire to rule his kingdom constitutionally.
As long as he possessed the confidence of
the court he affirmed that this resolve
must be carried out at all costs, even
though it should be necessary to use force
against the risings and revolts of the
Radical Party. He was unable to secure as
early a return to Vienna as he had hoped ;
hence he was obliged to make what use
he could of the means ■ at his
re uc disposal by entrusting the Arch-
P duke Johann with the regency
during the emperor's absence.
The regent's influence was of no value ; at
that time he was summoned to conduct
the business of Germany at Frankforton-
Main, and his action in Vienna was in con-
sequence irregular and undertaken without
full knowledge of the circumstances.
On July i8th the Archduke Johann",
as representing the emperor, formed a
Ministry, the president being the pro-
gressive landowner Anton von Doblhoff.
The advocate Dr. Alexander Bach, who
had previously belonged to the popular
party, was one of the members. The
elections to the Reichstag were begun after
Prince Alfred of Windisch-Graetz, the
commander of the imperial troops in Bo-
hemia, had successfrflly and rapidly sup-
pressed a revolt at Prague which was
inspired by the first Slav Congress. This
achievement pacified Bohemia. On July
loth the deputies of the Austrian provinces
met for preliminary discussion.
The claims of the different nationalities
to full equality caused a difficulty with
respect to the language in which business
should be discussed ; objections were ad-
vanced against any show of preference for
German, the only language suitable to the
purpose. However, the necessity of a rapid
interchange of ideas, and dislike of the
wearisome • process of translation through
an interpreter, soon made German the
sole medium of communication, in spite of
the protests raised by the numerous
Polish peasants, who had been elected in
Galicia against the desires of the nobility.
The most pressing task, of
_ . drafting the Austrian Constitu-
„ tion, was entrusted to a com-
* ^ mittee on July 31st ; the yet
more urgent necessity of furthering and
immediately strengthening the executive
power was deferred till the committee
should have concluded its deliberations. The
Ministry was reduced to impotence in conse-
quence, and even after the emperor's return
to Schonbrunn, on August 12th, its posi-
tion was as unstable as it was unimportant.
While "these events were taking place in
Vienna a new state had been created in
Hungary, which was not only independent
of Austria, but soon showed itself openly
hostile to her. For this, two reasons may
be adduced : in the first place, misconcep-
tions as to the value and reliability of
the demands advanced by the national
spokesmen ; and, secondly, the precipitate
action of the Government, which had made
concessions without properly estimating
their jesults. The Magyars were them-
selves unequal to the task of transforming
their feudal state into a constitutional
body politic of the modern type as rapidly
as they desired.
They had failed to observe that the appli-
cation of the principle of personal freedom
to their existing political institutions
would necessarily bring to light national
claims of a nature to imperil their para-
mountcy in their own land, or that, in
the inevitable struggle for this paramount
position, the support of Austria and of the
reigning house would be of great value.
With their characteristic tendency to over-
estimate their powers, they deemed them-
selves capable of founding a
The Magyars European power at One Stroke.
Demand ^^^^.^ impetuosity further in-
Indcpendence ^^^^^^^ ^^^ difficulties of their
position. They were concerned only with
the remodelling of domestic organisation,
but they strove to loose, or rather to burst
asunder, the political and economic ties
which for centuries had united them to the
German hereditary possessions of their
ruling house. They demanded an inde-
pendence* which they had lost on the day
4935
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
of the Battle of Mohacs. They deprived
their king of rights which had been the
indisputable possession of every one of his
crowned ancestors. Such were, the supreme
command of his army, to which Hungary
contributed a number of men, though
sending no individual contingents; the
supreme right over the coinage and
currency, which was a part of the royal
prerogative, and had been personally and
therefore uniformly employed by the
representatives of the different sovereign-
ties composing the Hapsburg power.
The legal code confirmed by the emperor
and King Ferdinand at the dissolution of
the old Reichstag, on April loth, 1848, not
only recognised the existing rights of the
Kingdom of Hungary, but contained
concessions from the emperor which
endangered and indeed destroyed the old
personal union with Austria. Of these the
chief was the grant of an independent
Ministry, and the union of Hungary and
Transylvania . without any. . obligation of
service to the Crown, without the recog-
nition of any community; of interests,
without any stipulation for such co-opera-
tion as might be needed to secure the
existence of the joint
monarchy.
In Croatia, Slavonia, '
in the Banat, and in the
district of Bacska in-
habited by the Servians,
the Slavonic nationalist
movement broke into
open revolt against Mag-
yar self-aggrandisement ;
the Hungarian Ministry
then demanded, the recall
of., all . Hungarian troops
from ..the. Italian army,
from Moravia and Galicia,
in order to quell the
."anarchy" pi^evailing at
home. . The Imperial
Government , now dis-
. FRANCIS JOSEPH I.
covered that m COncedmg Born in 1830, he became Emperor of Austria
an "independent
ministry to Hungary they ^ad been compelled to abdcate. The above
, 1 -^ , o . -^ , , •' portrait was taken about the year 18 jO
had surrendered the - -
attitude of Hungary on the financial
question, wherein she showed no inclina-
tion to consider the needs of the whole
community. She owed her political exist-
ence to German victories over the
Turks, but in her selfishness would not save
-. , Austria from bankruptcy by
Hungary s ,- , ^ r .1
r» 1./^ r- accepting a quarter of the
Debt to German .-^ ,", , .^ 1 -, ■
,,. . . national debt and making a
Victories .
yearly paymentof one million
])ounds to meet the interest. The
majority,. of the Ministry of Batthyany,
to , which . the loyaUst Franz von Deak
belonged, were by no means anxious to
bring about a final separation between
Hungary and Austria ; they were even
ready to grant troops to the court for ser-
vice in the Italian war, if the Imperial
Government would support Hungarian
action against the malcontent Croatians.
In May, Count Batthyany hastened to the
Imperial Court at Innsbruck and suc-
ceeded in allaying the prevailing apprehen-
sions. The court was inclined to purchase
Hungarian adherence to the dynasty and
the empire by compliance in all questions
affecting the domestic affairs of Hungary.
But it soon became clear that Batthj^any
and his associates did not
represent public feeling,
which was entirely led
by the fanatical agitator
Kossuth, who was not
to be appeased by the
offer of the portfolio of
finance in Batthyany's
i\Iinistry.
Louis Kossuth was a
man of extravagant en-
thusiasm, endowed with
great histrionic powers, a
rhetorician who was apt
to be carried away by
the torrent of his own
eloquence, a type of the
revolutionary apostle and
martyr. He was un-
doubtedly lacking in
war inl848, succeeding his uncle Ferdinand I., who sobriety of political judg-
' -T-. - -.--— ^^gj.^^^ ^^^ j.jjg powers
were never exerted with
full effect except under- the stress of high
excitement ; he seems, indeed, to have
been one of those who realise themselves
only at the moment when they feel that
the will of great masses of men has
fallen completely under the sway of their
own passion of eloquence. The ambitions
of such men can never be. satisfied in any
unity of the army, and so lost the main
prop of the monarchical power. The
difficulty was incapable of solution by
peaceful methods ; a struggle could only
be avoided by the vohmtary renunciation
on " the part of Hungary of a right she
had extorted but a moment before.
No less intolerable was the independent
4936
THE HUNGARIAN REBELLION
arena less than that in which national paper for the same amount ; he tnen
destinies are staked. Kossuth did not demanded further credit to the extent ot
enter on his political career from motives 4,200,000 pounds, to equip a national
of personal aggrandisement, with a de- army of 200,000 men. He even attempted
liberate intention of overthrowing the to determine the foreign policy of the
Hapsburg rule in order that he might emperor-king. Austria was to cede all
become the presiding genius and authori- Italian territory as far as the Etsch, and,
tative chief of a Hungarian Republic ; as regarded her German provinces, to
but it can hardly be bow to the decisions of
questioned that this the central power in
would have been the out- Frankfort. In case of
come of the movement ^ dispute with this power
which he originated, had 1 she was not to look to
it been carried to a sue- I'Jf tl|M • ' Hungary for support,
cessful issue with Kossuth \i Such a point of view
at its head. . '■^'^ \ was wholly incompatible
For such national rights ^^s^*****. with the traditions and
as the Magyars could ^ ^^ , the European prestige of
claim for themselves full .^ t L... ...^lIB^^ '^^^ House of Hapsburg;
provision was made by ^^^HHpii^M||^^^Hfe||^: lo yield would have been
the Constitution, which g^^^^^W^ ^^K^^^^^k to resign the position of
they had devised on ^^^^^Bh ^^^^^^^^^V permanency and to begin
liberal principles, abolish- '^^^^^H^B m^^^^^^KKm ^^^^ disruption of the
ing the existing privileges ^^^^^HH m^B^^^^^Km ^^^onarchy.
of the nobility and cor- ^^^^^^^1^^^^^^^^^^ It was to be feared that
porat ions ; every freedom ^Bi^^^Hl^^^^HII^^' Hungarian aggression
was thus provided for_ ^^^^^^S^^^^^^W ' could be met only by
the development ofitheir . ^x^ ^^^^^H^^ force. The federal allies,
strength ' and individu- ""^SBIP^^^ who had already prepared
ality. On July'2nd,.x848, kossuth in later life for what they saw would
the Reichstag' elected For some years Kossuth resided in England, be a hard Struggle, WCre
under the new Constitu- ^^^ ^}'''Z p°'*?'* "!?T5 •''l'u*^"""f.a'.' now appreciated at their
,, r^, " stay m this country. He died in the year 1894. ^- ^^, _,,
tion met together. The . , . • true value. Ihey in-
great task before it was the satisfaction eluded the Servians and Croatians, who
of the other nationalities, the Slavs, Rou-
manians; and Saxons, living on Hungarian
soil ; ,their . acquiescence in .the Magyar
predominance was to be secured without
endangering the unity of the kingdom, by
means of laws for national defence, and of
other innovations making for prosperity.
Some clear definition ofvthe connection
between Hungary, and Austria was also
necessary. if their common sovereign was
to retain his prestige in Europe ; and it
was of the first importance to allay the
apprehensions of the court with regard to
the fidelity, the subordination, and devo-
tion of the Magyars. Kossuth, however,
V .1. . ■ brought before the Reichstag
Kossuth s 9 c I 11
D A f th ^ series of proposals calcula-
P . , ted to shatter the confidence
which Batthyanj^ had exerted
himself to restore during his repeated visits
to Innsbruck. The Austrian national bank
had offered to advance one and a quarter
million pounds in notes for the purposes of
the Hungarian Government. This proposal
Kossuth declined, and issued Hungarian
L a6 G
were already in open revolt against the
Magyars, and had been organised into a
military force by Georg Stratimirovt.
The Banace of Croatia was a dignity in
the gift of the king, though his nominee
was responsible to Hungary. Since the
outbreak of the revolution the position
had been held by an Austrian general
upon the military frontier — Jellacic.
Though no professional diplomatist, he
performed a -master-stroke of policy in
securing to the support of the dynasty the
southern Slav movement fostered by the
"Great lUyrian" party.- He supported
the majority of the Agram Landtag in
their efforts to secure a separation from
Hungary, thereby exposing himself to
the violent denunciations of Batthyany's
Ministry, which demanded his deposition.
These outcries he disregarded, and
pacified the court by exhorting the
frontier regiments serving under Radetzky
to remain true to their colours and
to give their lives for the glory of
Austria. The approbation of his comrades
4937
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
in the imperial army strengthened him in
the conviction that it was his destiny to
save the army and the Imperial house. He
formed a Croatian army of 40,000 men,
which was of no great military value,
though its numbers, its impetuosity, and
its extraordinary armament made it for-
midable. The victories of the Italian
_. _ , army and the reconquest of
nswer Imperial Court. On August
toKossuth S j.\ A j^
12th the emperor returned to
the summer palace of Schonbrunn, near
Vienna, and proceeded to direct his policy
in the conviction that he had an armed
force on which he could rely, as it was now
possible to reconcentrate troops by degrees
in different parts of the empire. On August
31st, 1848, an Imperial decree was issued to
the palatine Archduke Stephen, who had
hitherto enjoyed full powers as the royal
representative in Hungary and Transyl-
vania ; the contents of the decree referred
to the necessity of enforcing the Prag-
matic Sanction. Such was the answer
to the preparations begun by Kossuth.
This decree, together with a note from the
Austrian Ministry upon the constitutional
relations between Austria and Hungary,
was at once accepted by Kossuth as a
declaration of war, and was made the
occasion of measures equivalent to open
revolt. On September nth the Minister
of Finance in a fiery speech, which roused
his auditors to a frenzied excitement, de-
clared himself ready to assume the
dictatorship on the retirement of Bat-
thyany's Ministry. On the same day the
Croatian army crossed the Drave and
advanced upon Lake Flatten.
The Vienna Democrats, who might con-
sider themselves masters of the capital,
had been won over to federal alliance with
Hungary. The most pressing necessity
was the restoration of a strong govern-
ment which would secure respect for estab-
lished authority, freedom of deliberation
Illiterate ^° ^^^ Reichstag, and power
Deputielin' J?, "^^""7 °^* ^^f Conclusions.
the Reichstag P^ Reichstag, however, pre-
ferred to discuss a superficial
and ill-conceived motion brought forward
by Hans Kudlich, the youthful deputy from
Silesia, for releasing peasant holdings from
the burdens imposed on them by the over-
lords. The work of this Reichstag, which
contained a large number of illiterate
de])uties from Galicia, may be estimated
from the fact that it showed a strong in-
493«
clination to put the question of compensa-
tion on one side. Dr. Alexander Bach was
obliged to exert all his influence and that
of the Ministry to secure a recognition of
the fundamental principle, that the relief
of peasant holdings should be carried out
in legal form. The " people " of Vienna
took little part in these negotiations ;
their attention was concentrated upon the
noisy outcries of the Democrats, who were
in connection not only with the radical
element of the Frankfort Parliament, but
also with Hecker and his associates.
As early as the middle of September a
beginning was made with the task
of fomenting disturbances among the
working classes, and the retirement of the
Ministry was demanded. Great excite-
ment was created by the arrival of a large
deputation from the Hungarian Reichstag,
with which the riotous Viennese formed the
tie of brotherhood in a festive celebration
on September i6th. The Hungarians were
able to count upon the friendship of the
Austrian revolutionaries after their mani-
festations of open hostility to the court.
The Hungarian difficulty weakened the
P impression made by Radetzky's
„ ' * , victories, and radical minds
Hopes of a j 1 r
P . J. agam conceived hopes of over-
throwing the Imperial house
and forming a Federal Danube Republic.
At the request of the archduke palatine,
Count Louis Batthyany made another
attempt to form a constitutional Ministry
on September 17th, with the object of
abohshing Kossuth's dictatorship ; how-
ever, no practical result was achieved.
The die had been already cast, and the
military party had established the necessity
of restoring the imperial authoritj' in Hun-
gary by force of arms. The Archduke
Stephen attempted to bring about a
meeting with Jellacic, to induce him to
evacuate Hungarian territory, but the
banus excused himself ; at the same time
the palatine was informed that Field-
Marshal Lamberg had been appointed
commander-in-chief of the imperial troops
in Hungary, and that the banus was under
his orders. This was a measure entirely
incompatible with the then existing Con-
stitution. The archduke recognised that
he would be forced to violate his constitu-
tional obligations as a member of the
Imperial house ; he therefore secretly
abandoned the country and betook him-
self to his possessions in Schaumberg
without making any stay in Vienna.
^
THE HUNGARIAN REBELLION
When Count Lamberg attempted to take
up his post in the Hungarian capital he fell
into the hands of Kossuth's most desperate
adherents, and was cruelly murdered on
September 28th, 1848, at the new suspen-
sion bridge which unites Pesth and Ofen.
An irreparable breach with the dynasty
was thus made, and the civil war began.
At the end of September the Hungarian
national troops under General Moga, a force
chiefly composed of battalions of the line,
defeated Jellacic and advanced into Lower
Austria. They were speedily followed by
a Hungarian army which proposed to co-
operate wi th the revolted Viennese , who were
also fighting against the public authorities.
It was on October 6th, 1848, that the
Viennese mob burst into open revolt, the
occasion being the march of a grenadier
battalion of the northern railway station
for service against the Hungarians. The
democratic conspirators had been stirred
up in behalf of republicanism by Johannes
Ronge, Julius Frobel, and Karl Tausenau ;
they had done their best to inflame the
masses, had unhinged the minds of the
populace to the point of rebellion, and
-^. »«. . . made the maintenance of public
The Minister •, ■ •, i ^, ^
™ order impossible. Ihe uproar
. • t d spread throughout the city,
and the Minister of War, Count
Latour, was murdered. The Radical
deputies, Lohner, Borrosch, Fischhof,
Schuselka, and others now perceived that
they had been playing with fire and had
burnt their fingers. They were responsible
for the murder, in so far as they were
unable to check the atrocities of the mob,
which they had armed.
Once again the Imperial family aban-
doned the faithless capital and took refuge
in the archbishop's castle at Olmiitz. The
immediate task before the Government
was to overpower the republican and
anarchist movement in Vienna. In
Olmiitz the Government was represented
by Wessenberg, and was also vigorously
supported by Prince Felix Schwarzenberg,
who had hastened to the court from
Radetzky's camp. He had been employed
not only on military service, but also in
diplomatic duties in Turin and Naples.
He declared for the maintenance of the
constitutional monarchy, and supported
the decree drafted by Wessenberg, to
the effect that full support and un-
limited power of action should be
accorded to the Reichstag summoned to
Kremsier for discussion with the Imperial
advisers upon some mutually acceptable
form of constitution for the empire.
There was strong feeling in favour of
placing all power in the hands of Prince
Alfred Windisch-Graetz, and establishing
a military dictatorship in his person, with
the abolition of all representative bodies ;
but for the moment this idea was not
-, reahsed. Windisch-Graetz was
tu^n "*^, appointed field-marshal and
the Revolt ^ ^ , . , . , r ,, ,,
. ... commander-in-chief of all the
in Vienna ■ ^ r , ■ ■, t ,
imperial forces outside Italy,
and undertook the task of crushing the revolt
in Vienna and Hungary. The subjugation
of Vienna was an easy task.
The garrison, consisting of troops of
the line under Auersperg, had withdrawn
into a secure position outside the city
on October 7th, where they joined hands
with the troops of the banus Jellacic on
the Leitha. These forces gradually pene-
trated the suburbs of Vienna. On October
2 1st the army of Prince Windisch-Graetz,
marching from Moravia, arrived at the
Danube, crossed the river at Nussdorf,
and advanced with Auersperg and Jellacic
upon the walls which enclosed Vienna.
The Democrats in power at Vienna, who
had secured the subservience of the
members of the Reichstag remaining in
the city, showed the courage of bigotry.
They rejected the demands of Windisch-
Graetz, who required their submission,
the surrender of the War Minister's
murderers, and the dissolution of the
students' committees and of the demo-
cratic unions ; they determined to defend
Vienna until Hungary came to their help.
Robert Blum, who, with Julius Frobel, had,
brought an address from the Frankfort
Democrats to Vienna, was a leading figure
in the movement for resistance. W^enzel
Messenhauser, the commander of the
National Guard, undertook the conduct
of the defence, and headed a division of
combatants in person. The general
assault was delivered on October 28th.
Only in the Praterstern and in
the Jagerzeile was any serious
Vienna on
the Point of
Surrender
resistance encountered. By
evening almost all the barri-
cades in the suburbs had been carried, and
the troops were in possession of the
streets leading over the glacis to the bas-
tions of the inner city.
On the next day there was a general
feeling in favour of surrender. Messen-
hauser himself declared the hopelessness of
continuing the struggle, and advised a
4939
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
general surrender. However, on the morn-
ing of October 30th he was on the Tower of
Stephan watching the struggle of Jellacic
against the Hungarians at Schwechat, and
was unfortunately induced to proclaim the
news of the Hungarian advance with an
army of relief, thereby reviving the martial
ardour of the desperadoes,, who had already
, begun a reign of terror in
Vienna s Vienna. He certainly opposed
eign o ^^^^ fanatics who clamoured for
a resumption of the conflict ; but
he quailed before the intimidation of the
democratic ruffians, and resigned his com-
mand without any attempt to secure the
due observance of the armistice which had
been already concluded with Windisch-
Graetz. On the 31st the field-marshal threw
a few shells into the town to intimidate the
furious proletariat ; but it was not until
the afternoon that the imperial troops
were able to make their way into the town.
They amved just in time to save the
Imperial library and the museum of natural
history from destruction by fire.
Vienna was conquered on November 1st,
1848 ; those honourable and distinguished
patriots who had spent the month of
October in oppression and constant fear
of death were liberated. The revolution
in Austria could now be considered at an
end. The capture of Vienna cost the
army sixty officers and 1,000 men killed
and wounded. The number of the inhabi-
tants, combatants and non-combatants,
who were killed in the last days of October
can only be stated approximately. Dr.
Anton Schiitte, an eye-witness, estimated
-the number at 5,000.
The next problem was the conduct of
the war with Hungary, which had already
raised an army of 100,000 men, and was
in possession of every fortress of importance
in the country, with the exception of Arad
and Temesvar. The Battle of Schwechat,
on October 30th, 1848, had ended with the
retreat of the 30,000 men brought up by
Abdication of ,^^"?J^^ ^^g^" T^'!, '^Tl^ °^
the Emperor ^^'^ Hungarians had not been
Ferdinand ^^^^' ^° *^"^® importance of the
occasion. A Hungarian victory
at that time would have implied the relief
of Vienna, and the question of the separa-
tion of the Crown of Stephen from the
House of Hapsburg would certainly have
become of European importance.
Upon the abdication of the Emperor
Ferdinand and the renunciation of liis
brother, the Archduke Francis Charles,
4940
the Archduke Francis Joseph ascended the
throne on December 2nd, 1848. On the
same day Prince Windisch-Graetz ad-
vanced upon the Danube with 43,000
men and 216 guns, while General Count
Franz Schlick started from Galicia with
8,000 men, and General Balthasar von
Simunich moved upon Neutra from the
Waag with 4,000 men. After a series of
conflicts — at Pressburgonthe 17th, atRaab
on the 27th, at Moor on the 30th December,
1848, and after the victory of Schlick at
Kaschau on December iith, the pro-
visional Government under Kossuth was
forced to abandon Pesth and to retire to
Debreczin ; the banate was speedily
evacuated by the national troops, as soon
as Jellacic, who now commanded an army
corps under Windisch-Graetz, was able
to act with the armed Servians.
However, the freld-marshal under-esti-
mated the resisting power of the nation,
which, as Kossuth represented, was threat-
ened with the loss of its political existence,
and displayed extraordinary capacities of
self-sacrifice and devotion in those danger-
bus days. He was induced to Mvance into
Th TA ^^^^ district of the Upper Theiss
^ y^ with too weak a force, and
„"-^ divided his troops, instead of
ungary halting in strong positions at
Ofen and Waitzen on the Danube and
waiting for the necessary reinforcemeiits.
The Battle of Kapolna, on February 26th
and 27th, 1849, enabled Schlick to effect
the desired junction, and could be regarded
as a tactical victory. Strategically, how-
ever, it implied a turn of the scale in
favour of the Hungarians ; they gradually
concentrated under the Polish general
Henryk Dembinski and the Hungarian
Arthur Gdrgey, and were able to take the
offensive at the end of March, 1849, under
the general command of Gorgey, who won
a victory at Isaszegh, G6d511o, on April 6th.
Ludwig von Melden, the representa-
tive of Windisch-Graetz, who had been
recalled to Olmiitz, was forced to retire to
the Raab on April 27th to avoid being
surrounded. The town of Komorn had
offered a bold resistance to the Austrian"
besiegers, who had hitherto failed to
secure this base, which was of importance
for the further operations of the imperial
army. General Moritz Perezel made a
victorious advance into the banate.
General Joseph Bem fought with varying
success against the weak Austrian
divisions in Transylvania under Puchner.
THE HUNGARIAN REBELLION
The remnants of these were driven into
Wallachia on February 20th. By April,
1849, the fortresses of Ofen, Arad, and
Temesvar alone remained in the occupa-
tion of the Austrians.
The promulgation of a new constitution
for the whole of Austria, dated March
4th, 1849, was answered by Kpssuth in a
proclamation from Debreczin on April
14th, dethroning the House of Hapsburg.
In spite of the armistice with Victor
Emmanuel, Italy was as yet too disturbed
to permit the transference of Radetzky's
army to Hungary. Accordingly, on May
ist the Emperor Francis Joseph concluded
a convention with Russia, who placed her
forces at his disposal for the subjugation of
Hungary, as the existence of a Hungarian
with three corps to Arad without coming
into collision with the Russian contingents.
On August 5th Dembinski was driven
back from Szoray to the neighbourhood of
Szegedin, and the Hungarian leaders could
no longer avoid the conviction that their
cause was lost. On August iith, Kossuth
fled from Arad to Turkey. On
the 13th, Gorgey, who had been
appointed dictator two days
previously, surrendered with
31,000 men, 18,000 horse, 144 guns, and
sixty standards, at Vilagos, to the Russian
general Count Riidiger. Further surrenders
were made at Lugos, Boros-Jeno, Mehadia,
and elsewhere. On October 5th, Klapka
marched out of Komorn under the honour-
able capitulation of September 27th.
Kossuth's
Flight
io Turkey
THE HISTORIC ARCHBISHOP'S CASTLE, NEAR OLMUTZ, IN MORAVIA
Republic threatened a rebellion in Poland.
It was now possible to raise an over-
whelming force for the subjection of the
brave Hungarian army. General Haynau
was recalled from the Italian campaign
to lead the Imperial army in Hungary.
He advanced from Pressburg with 60,000
Austrians, 12,000 Russians, and 250 guns.
rni. I -1 Jellacic led 44,000 men and
The^Imperial ^^g ^^^^^ -^^^^ g^^^^j^ Hungary,
• ""h^ while the Russian field-marshal
ungary p^.^^^^g Paskevitch marched on
North Hungary by the Dukla Pass with
130,000 men and 460 guns. Gorgey
repulsed an attack delivered by Haynau
at Komorn on July 2nd ; on the iith
he was removed from the command
in favour of Dembinski, and defeated on
the same battlefield, then making a
masterly retreat through Upper Hungary
Hungary was thus conquered by Austria
with Russian help. For an exaggeration
of her national claims, which was both
historically and politically unjustifiable,
she paid with the loss of all her consti-
tutional rights, and brought down grievous
misfortune upon herself. The Magyar
nationalists had expected the Western
Powers to approve their struggles for
independence and to support the new
Magyar state against Austria and Russia, ;
they calculated particularly upon help
from England. They were now to learn
that the Hungarian question is not one
of European miportance, and that no
one saw the necessity of an indepen-
dent Hungarian army and Ministry of
Foreign Affairs except those Hungarian
politicians whose motive was not patriot-
ism but self-seeking in its worst form.
4941
4942
THE
RE- MAKING
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE
IN
REVOLUTION
IV
STRUGGLES OF GERMAN DUCHIES
AND THE RISINGS OF THE SLAVS AND POLES
A N entirely strong and healthy national
•**■ feeling came to expression in those
" sea-girt " duchies, the masters of which
had also been kings of Denmark since the
fifteenth century. During .the bitter
period of the struggle for the supremacy
of the Baltic they had but rarely been able
to assert their vested right to separate
administration. They, however, had re-
mained German, whereas the royal branch
of the House of Holstein-Oldcnburg, one
of the oldest ruling families in Germany,
had preferred to become Danish. The
members of the ducal House of Holstein,
which had undergone repeated l^i furcations,
largely contributed to maintain German
feeling in Schleswig and Holstein, and
asserted their independence with reference
to their Danish cousins by preserving their
relations with the empire and with their
German neighbours. In the eighteenth
century the consciousness of their inde-
R pendence was so strong among
.i^^xr-^ ° the estates of the two duchies
the Vienna ,, x .1 << 1 i >» .- rr
^ that the royal law of 1600,
estates and establishing the paramountcy
of the Danish branch of the House of
Oldenburg, could not be executed in
Schleswig and Holstein.
The result of the Vienna Congress had
been to secure the rights of the German
districts and to separate them definitely
from Napoleon's adherent. Metternich's
policy had bungled this question, like so
many other national problems, by handing
over Schleswig to tiie Danes, while in-
cluding Holstein in the German Federation.
Unity was, however, the thought that
inspired the population of either country.
This feeling increased in strength and
became immediately operative when Den-
mark was so impolitic as to defraud the Ger-
mans by regulations which bore unjustly
upon the imperial bank, founded in 1813,
The disadvantages of Danish supre-
macy then became manifest to the lowest
peasant. Danish paper and copper were
forced upon the duchies, while their
good silver streamed away to Copenhagen.
The struggle against this injustice was
taken up by the German patriot leaders,
who were able to make the dissension turn
on a constitutional point after the publica-
tion of the " open letter " of King Christian
Vni. On July 8th, 1848, he
announced the intention of
Disadvantages
of Danish
Su premacy
the Danish Government, in
the event of a failure of male
heirs, to secure the succession to the un-
divided " general monarchy " to the
female line, in accordance with the Danish
royal law. Christian's only son, Frederic,
was an invalid and childless, and the
duchies had begun to speculate upon the
demise of the Crown and the consequent
liberation from a foreign rule.
Their constitution recognised only suc-
cession in the male line, a principle which
would place the power in the hands of the
ducal House of Holstein-Sonderburg-
Augustenburg, while in Denmark the suc-
cessor would be Prince Christian of Hol-
stein-Sonderburg-Gliicksburg, who had
married Louise of Hesse-Cassel, a niece of
Christian VHL Schleswig had the pro-
spect of complete separation from Den-
mark, and this object was approved in
numerous public meetings and adopted as a
guiding principle by the Assembly of these
estates. Schleswig objected to separation
from Holstein, and to any successor other
than one in the male line of descent.
Christian VHL died on Januaiy 20th,
1848, and was succeeded by his son, Fred-
eric VH. This change and the
The Duch.es jj^prgssion created by the
Demand revolutions in Paris, Vienna,
Independence ^^^ g^^^-^ confirmed the
duchies in their resolve to grasp their
rights and assert their national inde-
pendence. Had the king met these desires
wdth a full recognition of the provincial
constitutions and the grant of a separate
national position and administration, he
would probably have been able to retain
4943
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
A New
Government
at Kiel
possession of the two countries under some
form of personal .federation without ap-
peaHng to force of arms, and perhaps to
secure their adherence for the future.
He yielded, however, to the arguments of
the " Eider Danes," who demanded the
abandonment of Holstein and the incor-
poration of Schleswig with Denmark,
regarding the Eider as the
historical frontier of the Danish
power. This party required
a joint constitutional form of
government, and induced the king to
elect a Ministry from their number and
to announce the incorporation of Schleswig
in the Danish monarchy to the deputation
from the Schleswig-Holstein provinces in
Copenhagen, on March 22nd, 1848.
Meanwhile, the Assembly of the estates
at Rendsburg had determined to declare
war upon the Eider Danes. On March
24th a provisional government for the two
duchies was formed at Kiel, which was
to be carried on in the name of Duke
Christian of Augustenburg, at that time
apparently a prisoner in the hands of
the Danes, until he secured liberty to
govern his German territories in person.
The new Government was recognised
both by the population at large and by
the garrisons of the most important centres.
It was unable, however, immediately to
mobilise a force equivalent to the Danish
army, and accordingly turned to Prussia
for help. This step, which appeared highly
politic at the moment, proved unfortunate
in the result. The fate.of the duchies was
henceforward bound up with the indecisive
and vacillating policy of Frederic William
IV., whose weakness became dail}' more
obvious ; he was incapable of fulfilling
any single one of the many national duties
of which he talked so glibly.
His first steps in the Schleswig-Holstein
complication displayed extraordinary
vigour. On April 3rd, 1848, two Prussian
regiments of the Guard marched into Rends-
p ^ . burg, and their commander,
_ . , . General Eduard von Bonin,
Kegiments in , ,,- , ^, ,, '
Rendsburg ^^'^ ^^ ultimatum on the i6th
to the Danish troops, ordering
them to evacuate the duchy and the town
of Schleswig, which they had seized after
a victory at Bau on April 9th over the
untrained Schleswig-Holstein troops. On
April I2th the Federal Council at Frank-
fort recognised the provisional govern-
ment at Kiel, and mobilised the tenth
federal army corps, Hanover, Meck-
4944
lenburg, and Brunswick, for the protec-
tion of the federal frontier. The Prussian
general Von Wrangel united this corps
with his own troops, and fought the Battle
of Schleswig on the 23rd, obliging the
Danes to retreat to Alsen and Jiitland.
Througliout Germany the struggle of the
duchies for liberation met with enthusi-
astic support, and was regarded as a
matter which affected the whole German
race. There and in the duchies themselves
Prussia's prompt action might well be
considered as a token that Frederic William
was ready to accomplish the national will
as regarded the north frontier. Soon, how-
ever, it became plain that British and Rus-
sian influence was able to check the energy
of Prussia, and to confine her action to the
conclusion of a peace providing protection
for the interests of the German duchies.
The king was tormented with fears
that he might be supporting some re-
volutionary movement. He doubted the
morality of his action, and was induced by
the threats of Nicholas I., his Russian
brother-in-law, to begin negotiations with
Denmark. These ended in the conclusion
of a seven months' armistice at Malmo on
p . , August 26th, 1848, Prussia
russia ^agreeing to evacuate the
Evacuation of j*^ , r o t_i • t-u
c . , . duchy of Schleswig. The
Schleswig -^ , r ,u A 1-
government of the duchies
was to be undertaken by a commission of
five members, nominated jointly by Den-
mark and Prussia. The Frankfort Parlia-
ment attempted to secure the rejection of
ihe conditions, to which Prussia had as-
sented without consulting the imperial
commissioner, Max von Gagern, who had
been despatched to the seat of war, these
conditions being entirely opposed to
German feeling. But the resolutions on
the question were carried only by small
majorities ; the Parliament was unable to
ensure their realisation, and was event-
ually forced to acquiesce in the armistice.
Meanwhile the Assembly of the estates
of Schleswig-Holstein hastily passed a law
declaring the universal liability of the
population to military service, and retired
in favour of a " Constituent Provincial
Assembly," which passed a new constitu-
tional law on September 15th. TlTe con-
nection of the duchies with the Danish
Crown was thereby affirmed to depend
exclusively upon the person of the common
ruler. The Danish members of the govern-
ment commission declined to recognise the
new constitution, and also demurred to the
STRUGGLES OF GERMAN DUCHIES
election of deputies from Schleswig to the
Frankfort Parliament. Shortly afterwards
Denmark further withdrew her recognition
of the government commission. The armis-
tice expired without any success resulting
from the attempts of Prussia to secure
unanimity on the Schleswig-Holstein
question among the Great Powers. War
consequently broke out again in February,
1849. Victories were gained by Prussian
and federal troops and by a Schleswig-
Holstein corps, in which were many
Prussian officers on furlough from the king
at Eckernforde on April 5th, and Kold-
ing on April 23rd, 1849. C)n the other hand,
the Schleswig-Holstein corps was defeated
while besieging the Danish fortress of
Fridericia, and forced to retreat beyond
the Eider. On July loth, 1849, Prussia con-
cluded a further armistice with Denmark.
The administration of the duchies was
entrusted to a commission composed of
a Dane, a Prussian, and an Englishman.
At the same time the government of
Schleswig-Holstein was continued in Kiel
in the name of the Provincial Assembly by
Count Friedrich Reventlow and Wilhelm
Hart wig Beseler, a solicitor. They tried
to conclude some arrange-
iscon en ^ j^gnt with the king-duke on
Under Danish , , 1 j j ii - 1
-. . the one hand, and on the other
Oppression , , - x i ■ £ j.u
to stir up a fresh rismg of the
people against Danish oppression, which
was continually increasing in severity in
Schleswig. The devotion of the German
population and the enthusiastic support
of numerous volunteers from every part
of Germany raised the available forces
to 30,000 men and even made it pos-
sible to equip a Schleswig-Holstein
fleet. In the summer of 1850, Prussia
gave way to the representations of
the Powers, and concluded the " Simple
Peace " with Denmark on July 2nd.
Schleswig-Holstein then began the struggle
for independence on their own resources.
They would have had some hope of suc-
cess with a bett • *" general than Wilhelm von
Willisen, and if 1 iissia had not recalled her
officers on furlougn. Willisen retired from
the battle of Idstedt, July 24th, before
the issue had been decided, and began a
premature retreat. He failed to pro-
secute the advantage gained at Missunde
on September 12th, and retired from
Friedrichstadt without making any im-
pression, after sacrificing 400 men in
a useless attempt to storm the place.
The . German Federation, which had been
agai)i convoked at Frankfort, revoked its
previous decisions, in which it had recog-
nised the rights of the duchies to determine
their own existence, and assented to the
peace concluded by Prussia. An Austrian
army corps set out for the disarmament
of the duchies. Though the Provincial
Assembly still possessed an unbeaten army
The Ignoble °^ 38,000 men fully equipped, it
Methods ^^^ ^°^^^^ o^ January nth,
of Denmark 1851, to Submit to the demands
of Austria and Prussia to dis-
band the . army, and acknowledge the
Danish occupation of the two duchies. From
1852 Denmark did her utmost to under-
mine the prosperity of her German subjects
and to crush their national aspirations.
Such ignoble methods failed to produce
the desired result. Neither the faith-
lessness of the Prussian Government nor
the arbitrary oppression of the Danes
could break the national spirit of the North
German marches. On the death of Frederic
VII., on November 15th, 1863, they again
asserted their national rights. Prussia had
become convinced of their power and
of the strength of their national feeling,
and took the opportunity of atoning for
her previous injustice.
Of the many quixotic enterprises called
into life by the " nation's spring " of 1848,
one of the wildest was certainly the Slav
Congress opened in Prague on June 2nd.
Here the catchword of Slav solidarity was
proclaimed and the idea of " Panslavism "
discovered, which even now can raise fore-
bodings in anxious hearts, although half
a century has in nd way contributed to the
realisation of the idea. At a time when the
nations of Europe were called upon to
determine their different destinies, it was
only natural that the Slavs should be
anxious to assert their demands. There
were Slav peoples which had long been
deprived of their national rights, and
others, such as the Slovaks and part of
the southern Slavs, who had never en-
. joyed the exercise of their
f^'h^ rights. For these a period of
°j severe trial had begun ; it was
^^^ for them to show whether they
were capable of any internal development
and able to rise to the level of national
independence, or whether not even the
gift of political freedom would help them
to carry out that measure of social sub-
ordination which is indispensable to the
uniform development of culture. The
first attempts in this direction were
4945
HARMS WORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
somewhat -of a failure ; they proved to
contemporaries and to posterity that the
Slavs were still in the primary stages of
political training, that the attainment of
practical result was hindered by the ex-
travagance of their demands, their over-
weening and almost comical self-conceit,
and that for the creation of
states they possessed little or
no capacity. The differences
existing in their relations with
other peoples, the lack of uni-
formity in the economic con-
ditions under which they
lived, the want of political
training and experience —
these were facts which they
overlooked. They forgot the
need of prestige and import-
ance acquired by and within
their own body, and con-
sidered of chief importance
preparations on a large scale,
a congress of European nations to found
Pan-Slavonic states. These states were to
include Czechia — Bohemia and Moravia —
a Galician - Silesian state, Posen under
Prussian supremacy, until the fragments
of Poland could be united into an
independent Polish kingdom, and a
kingdom of Slovenia which
was to unite the Slav popu-
lation of Styria, Carinthia,
Carniola, and the seaboard.
The Slav states hitherto
under Hapsburg supremacy
were to form a federal state ;
the German hereditary dom-
ains were to be graciously
accorded the option of enter-
ing the federation, or of
joining the state which the
Frankfort Parliament was to
create. The attitude of the
Slovaks, Croatians, and Ser-
vians would be determined
THE HISTORIAN PALACKY
which could never lead to The Czech historian and politician, by the rcadiucss of the Mag-
, ,. ,-.- , Franz Palacky, became influential -' , , ,i r 11
any lasting political success, at the imperial court in oimutz. He yars to grant them lull
Had their action been ^^^ ''°''" '" i^'-'^^"'*'*''^'^'" i*'''- independence. Should the
limited to forwarding the common interests grant be refused, it would be necessary to
of the Austrian Slavs it might have form a Slovak and a Croatian state. All
been possible to produce a political pro- these achievements the members of the
gramme dealing with this question, to congress considered practicable, though
demand a central Parliament, and, they were forced to admit that the Slavs,
through opposition to the Hungarian whom they assumed to be inspired by the
supremacy, to assert the rights of the strongest aspirations for freedom and
Slav majority as against the Germans.- justice, were continually attempting to
Magyars, and Italians. But fw^" ' "' i aggrandise themselves at one
the participation of the Poles .^^'K^^k, another's expense ; the Poles,
in the movement, the appear- ^f " ^1^ the Ruthenians, and' the
ance of the Russian radical ■■ ^=^K Croatians respectively, con-
democrat Michael Bakunin, ^, '^^ ^^& sidered their most dangerous
and of Turkish subjects, in- ilk.i^^^B enemies to be the Russians,
finitely extended the range S^HB ^^^^ Poles, and the Servians,
of the questions in dispute, _^9^^9^L The Czech students in
and led to propositions of the ^^^dJHiPH^^^^ Prague had armed and or-
most arbitrary nature, the ffipUBM^^QlH^^B ganised a guard of honour
accomplishment of which was I^^^^^^^^^hHh for the congress. They made
entirely beyond the sphere of ^H^BHH^^^H '^^^ ^^^^ smallest attempt to
practical politics. Panslav- R|M^w|^^^^Hl conceal their hatred of the
ism, as a movement, was from \^^^^^^^j^^^ Germans ; Germanism to them
the outset deprived of all a learned visionary who believed was anathema, and they
importance by the inveterate L"e^^rhil""e'vVutionaT 'S in yearned for the chance of dis-
failing of the Slav politicians, Posen in is4s, and fought at the plavius; their heroism in an
..i.,-M.,...._„.„.,.^;....u. head of the rebels at Xions. ^^nti-Gcrman struggle, as the
which was to set no limit to the
measure of their claims, and to represent
themselves as stronger than they were.
Greatly to the disgust of its organisers,
among whom were several Austrian con-
servative nobles, the Slav Congress be-
came an arena for the promulgation of
democratic theories, while it waited for
4946
Poles had done against Russia. They were
supported by the middle-class citizens, and
the working classes were easily induced to
join in a noisy demonstration on June 12th,
1848, against Prince Alfred Windisch-
Graetz, the general commanding in Prague,
as he had refused the students a grant of
STRUGGLES OF GERMAN DUCHIES
sixty thousand cartridges and a battery
of horse artillery. The demonstration de-
veloped into a revolt, which the Czech
leaders used as evidence for their cause,
though it was to be referred rather to the
disorderly character of the Czech mob
than to any degree of national enthusiasm.
The members of the congress were very
disagreeably surprised, and decamped with
the utmost rapidity when they found them-
selves reputed to favour the scheme for
advancing Slav solidarity by street fights.
The Vienna government, then thoroughly
cowed and trembling before the mob,
made a wholly unnecessary attempt
at intervention. Prince Windisch-Graetz,
however, remained master of the situa-
tion, overpowered the rebels by force
of arms, and secured the unconditional
submission of Prague. He was speedily
master of all Bohemia. The party of
Franz Palacky, the Czech historian and
politician, at once dropped the programme
of the congress in its entirety, abandoned
the ideal of Panslavism, and placed them-
selves at the disposal of the Austrian
Government. Czech democratism was
an exploded idea ; the conservative Czechs
'w.i ». . . , who survived its downfall
The Exploded ■,-, j. j it
»j r^ .readily co-operated m the
Idea of Czech -'• ^- , , , ^
„ .. campaign against the German
Democratism , . j ., . j .
democrats, and attempted to
bring their national ideas into harmony
with the continuance of Austria as domi-
nant power. Palacky became influential
at the imperial court in Olmiitz and pro-
posed the transference of the Reichstag
to Kremsier, where his subordinate,
Ladislaus Rieger, took an important
share in the disruption of popular repre-
sentation by the derision which he cast
upon the German Democrats.
The Austrian Slavs had acquired a highly
favourable position by their victory over
the revolutionary Magyars, an achieve-
ment in which the Croatians had a very
considerable share. They might the more
easily have become paramount, as the
Germans had injured their cause by their
senseless radicalism. Their fruitless
attempt to secure a paramount position in
Bohemia gave them a share in the conduct
of the state ; this they could claim by
reason of the strength and productive
force of their race and of their undeniable
capacity for administrative detail, had
they conceded to the Germans the
position to which these latter were
entitled by the development of the
Hapsburg monarchy and its destiny
in the system of European states.
The year 1848 might perhaps have
afforded an opportunity for the restora-
tion of Polish independence had the
leaders of the national policy been able to
find the only path which could guide them
to success. Any attempt in this direction
ought to have been confined to
J . the territory occupied by Russia ;
p^j ^ any force that might have been
raised for the cause of patriotism
could have been best employed upon
Russian soil. Russia was entirely isolated ;
it was inconceivable that any European
Power could have come to her help,
as Prussia had come in 1831, if she
had been at war with the Polish nation.
Austria was unable to prevent Galicia
from participation in a Polish revolt.
Prussia had been won over as far as
possible to the Polish side, for her posses-
sions in Posen had been secured from any
amalgamation with an independent Polish
state. The approval of the German Par-
liament was as firmly guaranteed to the
Polish nationalists as was the support
of the French Republic, provided that
German interests were not endangered.
Exactly the opposite course was pur-
sued : the movement began with a rising
in Posen, with threats against Prussia,
with fire and slaughter in German com-
munities, with the rejection of German
culture, which could not have been more
disastrous to Polish civilisation than the
arbitrary and cruel domination of Russian,
officials and police. Louis of Mieroslaws-
ki, a learned visionary but no politician,
calculated upon a victory of European
democracy, and thought it advisable to
forward the movement in Prussia, where
the conservative power seemed most
strongly rooted. He therefore began his
revolutionary work in Posen, after the
movement of March had set him free to
act. On April 29th, 1848, he fought an
unsuccessful battle at the head of
f p^K 16,000 rebels against Colonel
Ririn Heinrich von Brandt at Xions ;
'^'"^ on the 30th he drove back a
Prussian corps at Miloslaw. However, he
gained no support from the Russian Poles,
and democratic intrigue was unable to
destroy the discipline of the Prussian
army, so that the campaign in Posen was
hopeless ; by the close of May it had come
to an end, the armed bands were dis-
persed, and Mieroslawski driven into exile.
4947
4948
THE
.^HjiJ^
RE-MAKING
ivk
OF
EUROPE
l|f^-
m^t^ml^
tWr iStumBBii»i^j^i„tM^
EUROPE
IN
REVOLUTION
V
THE SECOND REPUBLIC IN FRANCE
LOUIS NAPOLEON, PRESIDENT AND DICTATOR
T~'HE European spirit of democracy which
■*• was desirous of overthrowing existing
states, planting its banner upon the ruins,
and founding in its shadow new bodies
poUtic of the nature of which no Demo-
crat had the remotest idea, had been
utterly defeated in France at a time
when Italy, Germany, and Austria were
the scene of wild enthusiasm and bloody
self-sacrifice. Democratic hopes ran the
course of all political ideals. The process
of realisation suddenly discloses the fact
that every mind has its own conception of
any ideal, which may assume the most
varied forms when translated into practice.
A nation desirous of asserting its supre-
macy may appear a unity while struggling
against an incompetent government ; but
as soon as the question of establishing the
national supremacy arises, numbers of
different interests become prominent,
which cannot be adequately satisfied by
_ any one constitutional form,
r, , . The simultaneous fulfilment of
„ ... the hopes which are common to
all is rendered impossible, not
only by inequality of material wealth, but
also by the contest for power, -the exercise
of which necessarily implies the accumu-
lation of privileges on one side with a
corresponding limitation on the other.
When the goo representatives of the
French nation declared France a republic
on May 4th, 1848, the majority of the
electors considered the revolution con-
cluded, and demanded a public admini-
stration capable of maintaining peace and
order and removing the burdens which
oppressed the taxpayer. The executive
committee chosen on May loth, the i)resi-
dent's chair being occupied by the great-
physicist Dominique Frangois Arago, fully
recognised the importance of the duty
with which the, country had entiusted
it, and was resolved honourably to
carry out the task. But in the first days,
of its existence the committee found itself
confronted by an organised opposition.
which, though excluded from the Govern-
ment, claimed the right of performing its
functions. Each party was composed of
Democrats, government and opposition
alike ; each entered the lists in the name
of the sovereign people, those elected by
, . the moneyed classes as well as
J . the leaders of the idle or
Radi 1 unemployed, who for two
months had been in receipt
of pay for worthless labour in the
" national factories " of France.
On May 15th the attack on the dominant
party was begun by the Radicals, who
were pursuing ideals of communism or
political socialism, or were anxious merely
for the possession of power which they
might use to their own advantage. They
found their excuse in the general sym-
pathy for Poland. The leaders were
Louis Blanc, L. A. Blanqui, P. J. Proud-
hon, Etienne Cabet, and Frangois Vincent
Raspail. Ledru-Rollin declined to join the
party. They had no sooner gained pos-
session of the Hotel de Ville than a few
battalions of the National Guard arrived
opportunely and dispersed the masses.
The leaders of the conspiracy were
arraigned before the court of Bourges,
which proceeded against them with great
severity, while the national factories
were closed. They had cost France
;£io,ooo daily, and were nothing more than
a meeting-ground for malcontents and
sedition. This measure, coupled with an
order to the workmen to report themselves
for service in the provinces, produced the
June revolt, a period of street fighting, in
_ _ which the radical Democrats,
The Struggle ^^^^^ gathered round the red
.. "o . r>. flag, carried on a life and death
the Red Flag g^j-^gg^^ with the republican
Democrats, whose watchword was the " Re-
publique sans phrase." The monarchists
naturally sided with the republican
Government, to which the line troops and
the National Guard were also faithful.,
The Minister of War, General Louis Eugene
4949
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Cavaignac, who had won distinction in
Algiers, supported by the generals Lamori-
ciere and Damesne, on June 23rd success-
fully conducted the resistance to the bands
advancing from the /
suburbs to the centre of
Paris. The "Reds," how-
ever, declined to yield,
and on June 24th the
National Assembly gave
Cavaignac the dictator-
ship. He declared Paris
in a state of siege, and
pursued the rebels to the
suburb of Sainte- Antoine,
where a fearful massacre
on June 27th made an
end of the revolt. The
victory had been gained
at heavy cost ; thousands
of wounded lay in the
hospitals of Paris and its
environs. The number
of lives
been determined, but it
DOMINIQUE FRANCOIS ARAGO
After France had been declared a republic,
lost has never on May 4th, ISls, a capable public adminis-
tration was demanded, and an executive
committee was formed with Arago, the great
influencing the masses and prepared the
path to supremacy for an ambitious
member of the Bonaparte family, who had
been repeatedly elected as a popular
representative, and had
held a seat in the National
Assembly since September
26th, 1848. From the
date of his flight from
Ham Louis Napoleon had
lived in England in close
retirement. Theoutbreak
of the February revolu-
tion inspired him with
great hopes for his future ;
he had. however, learned
too much from Strassburg
and Boulogne to act as
precipitately as his sup-
porters in France desired.
He remained strong in
the conviction that his
time would come, a
thought which relieved
the tedium of waiting:
equalled the carnage of astronomer and physicist, who had taken for the momcut when he
^ , -I , .I 1 part in the Revolution of 1830, as a member. • , , + . + j.
many a great battle, and
included nine generals and several deputies.
An important reaction in public feeling
had set in ; the people's favour was now
given to the conservative parties, and any
compromise with the Radicals was opposed.
The democratic republic
W8,s based on the co-
operation of the former
"constitutionalists."
Thiers, Montalembert,
and Odilon Barrot again
became prominent figures.
Cavaignac was certainly
installed at the head of
the executive committee ;
his popularity paled
apace, however, as he did
not possess the art of
conciliating the bourgeois
by brilliant speeches or
promises of relief from
taxation. The constitu-
tion, which was ratified
after two months' dis-
might venture to act.
He tendered his thanks to the republic
for permission to return to his native
land after so many ■ years of pro-
scription and banishment ; he assured
the deputies who were his colleagues of
the zeal and devotion
which he would bring to
their labours, which had
hitherto been known to
him only " by reading
and meditation.". His
candidature for the
president's chair was then
accepted not only by his
personal friends and by
the adherents of the
Bonapartist empire, but
also by numerous
members of conservative
tendencies, who saw in
imcompromising Republi-
cans like Cavaignac no
hope of salvation from
the terrors of anarchv.
LOUIS BLANC
, , -vT , • 1 Socialist and historian, he was appointed a ,-,, , ,, j i
CllSSlOn by the National member of the Provisional Government in They WCrC lollowed by
Aci^pmblv nrpt;prvpr1 thp '*^^' escaping: to London on being unjustly ii1f,-nmnntnnp<; Orlennists
y^SSeniOiy, prPSerVCU tne accused of compUcity in the disturbances of UlTiamomaneS, WIieaillbLb,
fundamental principle of that year, he there completed his " Histoire legitimists, and socialists
j.u„ ,,„„^l„'„ „„ „ ;„ i de la Revolution," returning later to France. ? i • „.,j j.„ 4,V,^
the people's sovereignty.
The choice of a president of the republic
was not left to the deputies, but was to
be decided by a plebiscite. This provision
opened the way to agitators capable of
4950
who objected to the
republican doctrinaires, and used their
influence in the election which took place
on December loth, 1848. Against the
one and a half millions who supported
THE SECOND REPUBLIC IN FRANCE
•Cavaignac, an unexpectedly large majority of Europe. The president of the citizen
of five and a half millions voted for the . republic was thus a member of the
son of Louis Bonaparte and Hortense family of that great conqueror and sub-
Beauharnais. As a politician no one duer of the world whose remembrance
considered him of an 3^
account, but every party
hoped to be able to use
him for their own pur-
poses or for the special
objects of their ambitious
or office-seeking leaders.
The behaviour of the
National Assembly was
not very flattering when
the result of the voting
was announced on
December 20th. " Some,
who w^ere near Louis
Bonaparte's seat," says
Victor Hugo, " expressed
approval ; the rest of the
Assembly preserved a cold
silence. Marrast, the
president, invited the
aroused feelings of pride
in every Frenchman, ii
his patriotism were not
choked by legitimism ; it
was a problem difficult
of explanation. No one
knew whether the presi-
dent was to be addressed
as Prince, Highness, Sir,
Monseigneur, or Citizen.
To something greater he
was bound to grow, or a
revolution would forth-
with hurl him back into
the obscurity whence he
had so suddenly emerged.
But of revolution France
had had more than
enough. " Gain and the
PIERRE JOSEPH PROUDHON . . r -j. >.
An advanced Socialist, Proudhon published CnjOymcnt Ot it WaS
chosen candidate to take works asserting that "Property is theft." ir. the watchword, and Louis
<^ixwovii v,tiii»^ V u,i. .. jg^g j^g ^^g sentenced to three years im- t.t , j. j -j.
the oath. Louis Bona- prisonment for the violence of his utter- JNapoleon accepted It.
parte, buttoned up in a ances, and in 1S5S received a similar sentence, yjctor HugO claimS tO
black coat, the cross of the Legion of have shown him the fundamental principles
Honour on his breast, passed through the
door on the right, ascended the tribune,
and calmly repeated the words after
Marrast ; he then read a speech, with the
unpleasant accent peculiar
to him, interrupted by a
few cries of assent. He
pleased his hearers by
his unstinted praise of
Cavaignac. In a few
moments he had finished,
and left the tribune amid
a general shout of ' Long
hve the republic !' but
with none of the cheers
which had accompanied
Cavaignac." Thus " the
new man " was received
with much discontent and
indifference, with scanty
respect, and with ni>
single spark of enthusi-
asm. He was, indeed,
LOUIS EUGENE CAVAIGNAC
of the art of government at the first
dinner in the Elysee. Ignorance of the
people's desires, disregard of the national
pride, had led to the downfall of Louis
- Philippe ; the most im-
portant thing was to raise
the standard of peace.
" And how ? " asked the
prince. '•' By the triumphs
of industry and progress,
by great artistic, literary,
and scientific efforts. The
labour of the nation can
create marvels. France
is a nation of conquerors ;
if she does not conquer
with the sword, she will
conquer by her genius
and talent. Keep that
fact in view and you will
advance ; forget it, and
you are lost." Louis did
not possess this power of
without p-enius or fire '" l*^'^ ^^'^ distmgrmshed general became exprCSSlOn, but With the
wmiUUL ^eaiub Ul inc Minister of War, and earned his success on t^ ' , , ,
and of very moderate the field into his office of military dictator, iclca ne naa long ueei
capacity; but he under- ^.T f LTdS \o? {^ pS^n*^^^^^^^ familiar. He now m
stood the effect of republic when Louis Napoleon was elected. crCaSCd hlS grasp 01 it
commonplaces and the baser motives of
his political instruments, and was therefore
able to attract both the interest of France
and the general attention of the whole
He knew that men get tired of great
movements, political convulsion, hypo-
critical posing. Most people are out of
breath after they have puffed themselves
4951
HARMS WORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
like Uie frog in the fable,
to rccc-ver their wind,
cksire for quietude pre-
vailed, Napoleon the
citoyen was secure of the
favour of France. The
moment he appealed to
"great feelings" his art
had reached its limits
and he became childish
and insignificant. His
political leanings favoured
the Liberalism for which
the society of Paris had
created the July kingdom.
This tendency was shown
in his appointment of
Odilon Barrot as head of
his Ministry, and of
Edouard Drouyn de
I'Huys, one of his personal
adherents, as First
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Desire to secure the
and need a rest
As long as this
constituted authority against furthei;
attacks of the " Reds" was the dominant
feeling which influenced
the elections to the
National Assembly. By
the election law, which
formed part of the con-
stitution, these were held
in May, 1849. The
majority were former
Royalists and Constitu-
tionalists, who began of
express purpose a re-
actionary policj^ after the
revolt of the Communists
in June, 1848. Fearful
of the Italian democracy,
into the arms of which
Piedmont had rushed,
VICTOR HUGO France let slip the favour-
Greatest among the poets of France, Victor able opportunity of
Hugo claimed to have shown Louis Napoleon foStcring the Italian
the fundamental, principles of the art of j^QVement for UUity and
government, advismg him at the first dmner r , i • i . • ' i
m the Elys6e to raise the standard of peace, ''i i^'t^iii^
OVERTHROWING THE CONSTITUTION : THE COUP D'ETAT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON
Returning to France in 1S48, after a few years of quiet seclusion in England, Louis Napoleon was elected deputy for
Paris in the Constituent Assembly of June, and in December was elected president. But it was not long before he
quarrelled with the Chambers, carrying out a coup d'6tat on December 1st, 1851, by overthrowing the constitution.
4952
The son of Louis Bonaparte, brother of the great Napoleon, Louis Napoleon had engaged in various schemes to recover
the throne of France before his coup d'iStat in 1851 prepared the way for his election to the throne of his illustrious uncle.
On December 2nd, 1852, the Empire was proclaimed with Louis Napoleon as Napoleon III. On January 2(tth, 1853, he
married Eugenie de Montijo, a Spanish countess, and twenty years later, on January 9th, 1873, died in England.
in the peninsula. Had she listened to
Charles Albert's appeal for help, the defeat
of Novara could have been avoided, and
the Austrian Government would not have
gained strength enough to become the
centre of a reactionary movement which
speedily interfered both with the revo-
lutionary desires of the Radicals and the
more modest demands of the moderate-
minded friends of freedom.
Louis Bonaparte fully appreciated the
fact that the sentiments of the population
at large were favourable to a revival of
The Pope's governmental energy through-
c out almost the whole of Europe.
Supremacy tt ii a ^u r
J, . . He saw that the excesses of
Restored . , i , • i
tlie mob, which were as passion-
ately excited as they were morally de-
graded, had restored confidence, among the
moneyed classes and those who desired
peace, in the power of religious guidance
and education. For these reasons he
acquiesced in the restoration of the
temporal supremacy of the Pope, which
the democracy had abolished, thereby
rendering the greatest of all possible
services to the ultramontanes.
In March, 1848, Pius IX., the " National
Pope," had assented to the introduction
within the states of the Church of a
constitutional form of government. At the
same time he had publicly condemned the
war of Piedmont and the share taken in
it by the Roman troops, which he had been
unable to prevent. This step had con-
siderably damped public enthusiasm in his
behalf. Roman feeling also declared
against him when he refused his assent to
the liberal legislation of the Chambers
and transferred the government to the
hands of Count Pellegrino de Rossi. The
count's murder, on November 15th, 1848,
marked the beginning of a revolution in
Rome which ended with the imprisonment
of the Pope in the Quirinal, his flight to
the Neapolitan fortress of Gaeta on
November 27th, and the establishment
of a provisional government.
The Pope was now inclined to avail
himself of the services offered by Pied-
mont for the recovery of his power.
However, the constituent National As-
sembly at Rome, which was opened
on February 5th, 1849, voted for the
restoration of the Roman republic by
120 votes against 23, and challenged the
Pope to request the armed interference of
the Catholic Powers in his favour. The
Roman republic became the central point
of the movement for Italian unity, and was
4953
HARMSWORTH . HISTORY OF THE WORLD
■joined, by Venice, Tuscany, and Sicily.
Mazzini was the head of tlie triumvirate
which held the executive power ; Giuseppe
Garibaldi directed the forces for national
defence, of which
Rome was now
made the head-
quarters. The
"democratic
republic " which
was being organ-
ised in France
would have no
dealings with the
descendants of
the Carbonari, or
with the cliiefs
of the revo-
lutionary party
in Europe. It
considered alli-
ance with the
clericals abso-
lutely indispens-
able to its own
preservation.
Hence came the
agreement to co-
THE
monuments of artistic skill were destroyed.
The city was forced to surrender on July
3rd, 1849, after Garibaldi had marched
away with 3,000 volunteers. By its
attitude upon the
Roman question,
and by its re-
fusal of support
to the German
Democrats, who
were making
their last efforts
in the autumn
of 1849 for the
establishment of
Republicanism in
Germany, the
French Republic
gradually lost
touch with the
democratic
principles on
which it was
based. Its in-
ternal disruption
was expedited
by the clumsi-
ness of its con-
■lUS IX
n-ne^ra + c^ ixr i + Vl Succeeding Gregory XVI. in 1846, Pope Pius IX. introduced a series , • , , • \
upeid.Le WILU of reforms and won the affections of the populace. During- the ^ "^ ^ "^ ^ '^ ^ *^ ^ • /^
Austria, Spain, revolutionary fever of ISlS, however, he opposed the public desire Chamber prO-
and Naples for ^"'^ ^ ^^^ ^'th Austri.i, and the mob became so menacing- that he -vicied with fuil
the purpose of ^"""'^ '* expedient to make his escape from the Quirinal in disguise, legislative pOWer
restoring the Pope to his temporal power, 'and indissoluble for three years con-
Twenty thousand men were at once
despatched under Marshal Oudinot, and
occupied the harbour town of Civita
Vecchia on April 25th, 1849.
The president, however, had no intention
of reimposing upon the Romans papal
absolutism, with all the scandals of such
a government. He sent out his trusty
agent, Ferdinand de Lesseps, to effect
some compromise between the Pope and
the Romans which should result in the
establishment of a moderate Liberal
government. Oudinot, however, made a
premature appeal to force of arms. He
suffered a reverse before the walls of
Rome on April 30th, and the military
honour of France, which a descendant
of Napoleon could not afford to dis-
regard, demanded the conquest of the
Eternal City. Republican soldiers thus
found themselves co-operating with the
reactionary Austrians, who entered
Boulogne on May 19th, and reduced half
of Ancona to ashes. On June 20th, the
bombardment of Rome began, in the
course of which many of the most splendid
49.=)4
fronted a president elected by the votes
of a nation to an office tenable for only
four years, on the expiration of which he
was at once eligible for re-election.
~ Honest Republicans had foreseen that
election by the nation would give the
president a superfluous prestige and
a dangerous amount of power ; but the
majority of the Constituent Assembly had
been " inspired with hatred of the republic.
-J . , They were anxious to have an
apo con s ij^fjgpgi^^jgji^^ power side by side
. *jt**ff ^^ with the Assembly, perhaps
with the object of afterwards
restoring the monarchy." This object
Louis Bonaparte was busily prosecuting.
On October 31st, 1849, he issued a message
fb the country, in which he gave himself
out to be the representative of the Napo-
leonic system, and explained the main-
tenance of peace and social order to be
dependent upon his own position. Under
pressure from public opinion, the Chamber
passed a new electoral law on I\Iay 31st,
1850, which abolished about three millions
out of ten million votes, chiefly those of
THE SECOND REPUBLIC IN FRANCE
town electors, and required the presence
of a quarter of the electorate to form
a quorum. The Radicals were deeply
incensed at this measure, and the Conserva-
tives by no means satisfied. The president
attempted to impress his personality on
the people by making numerous tours
through tlie country, and to conciliate
the original electorate, to whose decision
alone he was ready to bow.
A whole year passed before he ventured
upon any definite steps ; at one time
the Chamber showed its power,
The Waiting
Policy
of Napoleon
at another it would display
compliance. However, he could
not secure the three-quarters
majority necessary for determining a
revision of the constitution, although
seventy-nine out of eighty-five general
councillors supported the proposal. There
could be no doubt that the presidential
election of May, 1852, would have forced
on the revision, for the reason that Louis
Napoleon would have been elected by an
enormous majority, though the constitu-
tion did not permit immediate re-election.
A revolt of this nature on the part of the
whole population against the law would
hardly have contributed to strengthen the
social order which rests upon constitu-
tionally established rights ; the excite-
ment of the elections might have produced
a fresh outbreak of radicalism, which was
especially strong in the south of France,
at Marseilles and Bordeaux. The fear of
some such movement was felt in cottage
and palace alike, and was only to be
obviated by a monarchical government.
No hope of material improvement in the
conditions of life could be drawn from
the speeches delivered in the Chamber,
with their vain acrimony, their bombastic
self -laudation, and their desire for im-
mediate advantage. The childlike belief
in the capacity and zeal o'f a national
representative assembly was destroyed
for ever by the experience of twenty years.
The Parliament was utterly incompetent
to avert a coup d'etat, a danger which
had been forced upon its notice in the
autumn of 1851. It had declined a pro-
posal to secure its command of the army
by legislation, although the growing
popularity of the new Caesar with the
THE FLIGHT OF A POPE : PIUS IX. LEAVING THE QUIRINAL IN DISGUISE
4955
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
army was perfectly obvious, and though
General Saint-Arnaud had engaged to
leave North Africa, and conduct the armed
interference which was the first step
to a revision of the constitution without
consulting the views of the Parliament.
After long and serious deliberation the
president had determined upon the coup
. d'etat ; the preparations were
""^fif ""^ made by Napoleon's half-
c A"t t brother, his mother's son. Count
°"'* * de Morny, and by Count
Flahault. He was supported by the faithful
Persigny, while the management of the
army was in the hands of Saint-Arnaud.
On December 2nd, i85i,the day of Ausffer-
litz and of the coronation of his great
uncle, it was determined to make the
nephew supreme over France. General
Bernard Pierre Magnan, commander of the
garrison at Paris, won over twenty generals
to the cause of Bonaparte in the event of
conflict. Louis himself, when his resolve
had been taken, watched the course of
events with great coolness. Morny, a
prominent stock - exchange speculator,
bought up as much state paper as he could
get, in the conviction that the coup d'-^cat
would cause a general rise of stock.
•The movement was begun by the Director
of Police, Charlemagne Emile de Maupas,
who surprised in their beds and took
prisoner every member of importance in
the Chamber, about sixty captures being
thus made, including the generals Cavaig-
nac, Changarnier, and I.amoriciere ; at the
same time the points of strategic import-
ance round tlie meeting hall of the National
Assembly were occupied by the troops,
which had been reinforced from the
environs of Paris. The city awoke to find
placards posted at the street corners
containing three short appeals to the
nation, the population of the capital,
and the army, and a decree dissolving the
National Assembly, restoring the right of
universal suffrage, and declaring Paris
„ . . and the eleven adjacent depart-
Paris m ,■ .-<•• t
_ ments m a state of siege. In
, c- the week, December 14th to
of Siege , ' ^
2ist, 10,000,000 Frenchmen
were summoned to the ballot-box to vote
for or against the constitution proposed by
the president. This constitution provided
a responsible head of the state, elected for
ten years, and threefold representation of
the people through a state council, a
legislative body, and a senate, the
executive power being placed under the
4956
control of the sovereign people. On his.
a})pearance the president was warmly
greeted by both people and troops, and no
opposition was offered to the expulsion
of the deputies who attempted to protest
against the breach of the constitution.
It was not until December 3rd that the
revolt of the Radicals and Socialists broke
out ; numerous barricades were erected
in the heart of Paris^ and were furiously
contested. But the movement was not
generally supported, and the majority of
the citizens remained in their houses.
The troops won a complete victory, which
was stated to have secured the establish-
ment of the " democratic republic," though
unnecessary acts of cruelty made it appear
an occasion of revenge upon the Democrats.
The exponents of barricade warfare were
destroyed as a class for a long time to
come, not only in Paris, but in the other
great towns of France, where the last
struggles of the Revolution were fought out.
The impression- caused by this success,
by the great promises which Louis Napo-
leon made to his adherents, and by the
rewards which he had begun to pay them,
decided the result of the national
Napoleon
Becomes
Dictator
vote upon the change in the
constitution, or, more correctly,
upon • the elevation of Louis
Napoleon to the dictatorship. By Decem-
ber 2oth, 1851, 7,439,246 votes were
given in his favour, against 640,737.
Bonapartism in its new form became the
governmental system of France.
"The severest absolutism that the nine-
teenth century has seen was founded by
the general demonstrations of a democracy.
The new ruler, in the early years of his
government, was opposed by all the best
intellects in the nation ; the most brilliant
names in art and science, in politics and
war, were united against him, and united
with a unanimity almost unparalleled
in the course of history. A time began in
which wearied brains could find rest in the
nirvana of mental vacuity, and in which
nobler natures lost nearly all of the best
that life could give. For a few years,
liowever, the masses were undeniably
prosperous and contented ; so small is
the significance of mental power in an
age of democracy and popular administra-
tion." It is the popular will which must
bear the responsibility for the fate of
France during the next two decades ;
the nation had voluntarily humbled itself
and bowed its neck to an adroit adventurer.
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
fl ! U I i ^
■^»JH£l
EUROPE
IN
REVOLUTION
VI
THE PROBLEM of the GERMAN STATES
AND THE VAIN SEARCH AFTER FEDERATION
/^N May i8th, 1848, 586 representatives
^^ of every German race met in the
Church of St. Paul at Frankfort-on-Main to
create a constitution corresponding to the
national needs and desires. The great
majority of the deputies belonging to the
National Assembly, in whose number were
included many distinguished men, scholars,
manufacturers, officials, lawyers, property
owners of education and experience, were
firmly convinced that the problem was
capable of solution, and were honourably
and openly determined to devote their
best energies to the task. In the days
of " the dawn of the new freedom," which
illumined the countenances of politicians
in the childhood of their experience, flushed
with yearning and expectation, the power
of conviction, the blessing that would be
produced by immovable principles were
believed as gospel. It was thought that
the power of the Government was broken,
. ...1 ^ that the Government, willing
In the Dawn n- xi
or unwiUmg, was m the
-. „ . ,, people's hands, and could
New Freedom ^ ^ '. ir j. i-i
accommodate itself to the
conclusions of the German constituents.
Only a few were found to doubt the relia-
bility of parliamentary institutions, and the
possibility of discovering what the people
wanted and of carrying out their wishes.
No one suspected that the expei'i-
ence of half a century would show the
futility of seeking for popular unanimity,
the division of the nation into classes at
variance with one another, the disregard
of right and reason by parliamentary,
political, social, religious, and national
parties as well as by princes, and the
inevitability of solving every question
which man is called upon to decide by
the victory of the strong will over the weak.
A characteristic feature of all theoretical
political systems is very prominent in
Liberalism, which was evolved from theory
and not developed in practice. This feature
is the tendency to stigmatise all institutions
which cannot find a place within the
theoretical system as untenable, useless,
and to be abolished in consequence ; hence
the first demand of the Liberal politician
is the destruction of all existing organisa-
tion, in order that no obstacle may impede
the erection of the theoretical structure.
Liberals, like socialists and
. . * anarchists, argue that states are
P . . . formed by establishing a ready-
made system, for which the
ground must be cleared as it is required.
They are invariably the pioneers to open
the way for the Radicals, those impatient
levellers who are ready to taste the sweets
of destruction even before they have
formed any plans for reconstruction, who
are carried away by the glamour of
idealism, though utterly incapable of
realising any ideal, who at best a'Ve
impelled only by a strong desire of
" change," when they are not inspired by
the greed which most usually appears as
the leading motive of human action.
Thus it was that the calculations ot the
German Liberals neglected the existence of
the Federal Assembly, of the federation of
the states, and of their respective govern-
ments. They took no account of those
forms in which German political life had
found expression for centuries, and their
speeches harked back by preference to a
tribal organisation which the nation had
long ago outgrown, and which even the
educated had never correctly appreciated.
They fixed their choice upon a constitu-
tional committee, which was to discover
the form on which the future German
state would be modelled ; they created
a central power for a state
as yet non-existent, with-
out clearly and intelligibly
defining its relations to
the ruling governments who were in
actual possession of every road to power.
Discussion upon the "central power"
speedily brought to light the insurmount-
able obstacles to the formation of a consti-
tution acceptable to every party, and this
4957
Obstacles to
the Formation of
a Constitution
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
without any interference on the part of
the governments. The Democrats decUned
to recognise anything but an executive
committee of the sovereign National
Assembly ; the Liberals made various
proposals for a triple committee in con-
nection with the governments. The bold
mind of the president, Heinrich von
^. „ . Gagern, eventually soothed
The Popular. ^i^e^ He invited the
Archduke John p^^y^^^^^^ to appomt, in
of Austria • , r ■ , i
vn-tue of its plenary powers,
an Imperial Administrator who should un-
dertake the business of the Federal Council,
then on the point of dissolution, and act
in concert with an imperial Ministry. - ■
The Archduke John of Austria^ was
elected on June 24th, 1848, by 436 out of
548 votes, and the law regarding the
central power was passed on the 28th.
Had the ofhce of Imperial Administrator
been regarded merely as a temporary
expedient until the permanent forms
were settled, the choice of the archduke
would have been entirely happy ; he
was popular, entirely the man for the
post, and ready to further progress in
every department of intellectual and
material life. But it was , a grievous
mistake to expect him to create substance
out of shadow, to direct the development
of the German state by a further use of
the " bold grasp," and to contribute
materially to the realisation of its being.
The Archduke John was a good-hearted
man and a fine speaker, full of confidence in
the " excellent fellows," and ever inclined
to hold up the "bluff " inhabitants of the
Alpine districts as examples to the other
Germans ; intellectually stimulating within
his limits, and with a keen eye to economic
advantage ; but Nature had not intended
him for a politician. His political ideas
were too intangible ; he used words with
no ideas behind them, and though his
own experience had not always been of the
pleasantest, it had not taught him the feel-
_ , ing then prevalent in Aus-
uermany s , " f ■ i t- . 1
J . . trian court cnxles. For the
A . ■ ■ t t moment his election pro-
Administrator . , r ^ ,,
mised an escape from all
manner of embarrassments. The govern-
ments could recognise his position without
committing themselves to the approval of
any revolutionary measure ; they might
even allow that his election was the
beginning of an understanding with the
reigning German houses. This, however,
was not the opinion of the leading party in
4958
the National Assembly. The Conserva-
tives, the Right, or tlie Right Centre, as they
preferred to be called, were alone in their
adherence to the sound principle that only
by way of mutual agreement between the
Parliament and the governments could a
constitutional German body politic be
established. Every other party was agreed
that the people must itself formulate its
own constitution, as only so would it
obtain complete recognition of its rights.
This fact alone excluded the possibility
of success. The decision of the question
was indefinitely deferred, the favourable
period - in which the governments were
inclined : to consider the necessity of
making concessions to the popular desires
was wasted in discussion, and opportunity
was given to particularism to recover its
strength. There was no desire for a federal
union endowed with vital force and
offering a strong front to other nations.
Patriots were anxious only to invest
doctrinaire Liberalism and its extravagant
claims with legal form, and to make _ the
governments feel the weight of a vigorous
national sentiment. The lessons of the
„ ,.^ French Revolution and its sad
Hereditary i ■ , i , ,i
^ . history were lost upon the
.. ^ Germans. Those who held the
tne uerman , , ,. „ . , . , ,
fate of Germany m their hands,
many of them professional politicians,
were unable to conceive that their
constituents were justified in expecting
avoidance on , their part of the worst of
all political errors.
The great majority by which the
central power had been constituted soon
broke up into groups, too insignificant to
be called political parties and divided
upon wholly immaterial points. The
hereditary curse of the German, dogmatism
and personal vanity, with a consequent
distaste for voluntary subordination; posi-
tively devastated Monarchists and Re-
publicans alike. The inns were scarcely
adequate in number to provide head-
quarters for a score of societies which
considered the promulgation of political
programmes as their bounden duty.
On July 14th, 1848, the Archduke
John made his entry into Frankfort, and
the Federal Council was dissolved the same
day. The Imperial Administrator esta-
blished a provisional Ministry to conduct
the business of the central power till he
had completed the work at Vienna which
his imperial nephew had entrusted to
his care. At the beginning of August, 1848,
THE SEARCH AFTER GERMAN FEDERATION
he established himself in Frankfort, and
appointed Prince Friedrich Karl von
Leiningen as the head of the Ministry,
which also included the Austrian, Anton
von Schmerling; the
Hamburg lawyer, Moritz
Hecksctj^r ; the Prussians,
Hermann von Beckerath and
General Eduard von Peucker ;
the Bremen senator, Arnold
Duckwitz ; and the Wiirtem-
berger, Robert von Mohl, pro-
fessor of political science at
Heidelberg.
To ensure the prestige of
the central power, the Minister
of War, Von Peucker, had
given orders on August 6th
for a general review' of con-
tingents furnished by the
HEINRICH VON GAGERN
Austrian House, and continued confi-
dential relations with him for a consider-
able time. The German governments
further appointed plenipotentiaries to re-
present their interests with the
central power ; these would
have been ready to form a kind
of Monarchical Council side by
side with the National As-
sembly, and would thus have
been highly ^rviceable to the
imperial administrator as a
channel of communication
with the governments. But
the democratic pride of the
body which met in the Church
of St. Paul had risen too high
to tolerate so opportune a
step towards a " system of
mutual accommodation." On
German states, who were to This German statesman was piesu August jOth the central
give three cheers to the Arch- f„^?L°Jear^s];t"a'nd?t wts^mS P^^^^^r was obliged to declare
duke John as imperial ad- on his suggestion that an imperial that the plenipotentiaries
. . , , T^i 1 • Administrator was appointed. r .i • j • • i ^ j. i.
mmistrator. The mode m ot the individual states
which this order was carried out plainly possessed no competence to influence
showed that the governments did not the decisions of the central power, or
regard it as obligatory, and respected it to conduct any systematic business,
only so far as they thought good. It was The new European power had notified its
obeyed only in Saxony,
Wiirtemberg, and the
smaller states. Prussia
allowed only her gar-
risons in the federal
fortresses to participate
in the parade ; Bavaria
ordered her troops to
cheer the king belore the
imperial administrator. In
Austria no notice w^as
taken of the order, except
in Vienna, as it affected
the ai'chduke ; the Italian
army did not trouble itself
about the imperial Min-
ister of War in the least.
At the same time, the
relations of the govern
existence by special em-
bassies to various foreign
states, and received fe-
cognition in full from the
Netherlands, Belgium,
Sweden, Switzerland, and
the United States of
North America ; Russia
ignored it, while the
attitude of France and
I Britain was marked by
I distrust and doubt.
Austria was in the throes
of internal convulsion
(luring the summer of
1848 and unable seriously
to consider the German
question ; possessing a
confidential agent of pre-
ments and the central archduke john of Austria eminent position in the
power were bv no means a "good-hearted man and a fine speaker," he persoii of the Axchduke
nnfripnrlhr TVip TCinrr nf waselected Imperial Administrator ; he entered ] ^Uy. ohe waS able tO
UninenCUy. ineivmgOI prankfort on July nth, l,s4s, and on the same J "^"'' ^^it- vvdb d-'-'it- lu
Prussia did not hide his day the Federal council was dissolved, where- rcservc her dccision.
high personal esteem of upon he established a provisional Ministry. With PrUSsia, hoW-
the Imperial Administrator, and showed ever, serious complications speedily arose
from the v 0: in Schleswig - Holstein.
Parliament \.as aroused to great excite-
ment by the armistice of Malmo, which
Prussia concluded on August 26th, with-
out consulting Max von Gagern, the
impenal state secretary commissioned to
4959
him special tokens of regard at the
festivities held at Cologne on August
14th, 1848, in celebration of the six
hundredth anniversary of the foundation
ol the cathedral. Most of the federal
princes honoured him as a member of the
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Revolution
in
the duchies by the central power. The
central power had declared the Schleswig-
Holstein question a "matter of national
importance, and in virtue of the right
which had formerly belonged to the
Federal Council demanded a share in
the settlement. On September 5th,
Dahlmann proposed to set on foot the
necessary measures for carrying
out the armistice ; the proposal,
_ ,, ^ when* sent up by the Ministry
Frankfort . n I- • ^ j
for confirmation, was rejected
by 244 to 230 votes. Dahlmann, who was
now entrusted by the Imperial Adminis-
trator with the formation of a new
Ministry, was obliged to abandon the
proposal after many days of fruitless
effort. Ignoring the imperial Ministry,
the Assembly proceeded to discuss the
steps to be taken with reference to the
armistice which was already in process of
fulfilment. Meanwhile the democratic Left
lost their majority in the Assembly, and
the proposal of the committee to refuse
acceptance of the armistice and to declare
war on Denmark through the provisional
central power was lost by 258 votes to 237.
This result led to a revolt in Frankfort,
begun by the members of the Extreme
Left under the leadership of Zitz of Mainz
and their adherents in the town and in
the neighbouring states of Hesse and
Baden. The town senate was forced to
apply to the garrison of Mainz for military
protection and to guard the meeting of
the National Assembly on September i8th,
1848, with an Austrian and a Prussian
battalion of the line. The revolutionaries,
here as in Paris, terrified the Parliament
by the invasion of an armed mob, and
sought to intimidate the members to the
passing of resolutions which would have
brought on a civil war.
Barricades were erected, and two deputies
of the Right, Prince Felix Lichnowsky and
Erdmann of Auerswald. were cruelly miu"-
dered. Even, the long-suffering archducal
^ ,. „ administrator of the empire was
Frankfort s r -, , -i \, j-
_ forced to renounce the hope of
g .a pacific termination of the
quarrel. The troops were ordered
to attack the barricades, and the disturb-
ance was put down in a few hours with no
great loss of life. The citizens of Frankfort
had not fallen into the trap of the " Reds,"
or given any support to the des]:)eradoes
with whose help the German republic was
to be founded. A few days later the pro-
fessional revolutionary, Gustav Struve, met
4960
the fate he deserved ; after invading Baden
with an armed force from France, "to help
the great cause of freedom to victory,"
he was captured at Lorrach on September
25th, 1848, and thrown into prison.
The German National Assehibly was now
able to resume its meetings, but the public
confidence in its lofty position and powers
had been greatly shaken. Had the radical
attempt at intimidation proved successful,
the Assembly would speedily have ceased
to exist. It was now able to turn its
attention to the question of " fundamental
rights," while the governments in Vienna
and Berlin were fighting for the right of
the executive power. The suppression of
the Vienna revolt by Windisch-Graetz
had produced a marked impression in
Prussia. The conviction was expressed
that the claims of the democracy to a
share in the executive power by the sub-
jects of the state, and their interference
in government affairs, were to be uncon-
ditionally rejected. Any attempt to
coerce the executive authorities was to be
crushed by the sternest measures, by force
of arms, ii need be ; otherwise the main-
tenance of order was im-
cverc possible, and without this
Measures of the ^
Government
there could be no peaceful
enjoyment of constitu-
tional rights. It was clear that compliance
on the part of the government with the
demands of the revolutionary leaders would
endanger the freedom of the vast majority
of the population ; the latter were ready to
secure peace and the stability of the exist-
ing order of things by renouncing in favour
of a strong government some part of those
rights which Liberal theorists had aligned
to them. In view of the abnormal ex-
citement then prevailing, such a pro-
gramme necessitated severity and self-
assertion on the part of the government.
This would be obvious in time of peace,
but at the moment the fact was not likely
to be appreciated.
The refusal to fire a salute upon the
occasion of a popular demonstration in
Schweidnitz on July 31st, 1848, induced the
Prussian National Assembly to take steps
which were calculated to diminish the
consideration and the respect of armed
force, which was a highl}^ beneficial in-
fluence in those troublous times. The re-
sult was the retirement on September 7th
of the Auerswald-Hansemann Ministry,
which had been in ofiice since June 25th ;
it was followed on September 21st by a
THE SEARCH AFTER GERMAN FEDERATION
bureaucratic Ministry under the presi-
dency of General Pfuel, which was with-
out influence either with the king or the
National Assembly. The Left now obtained
the upper hand. As president they chose
a moderate, the railway engineer, Hans
Victor von Unruh, and as vice-president
the leader of the Extreme Left, the doc-
trinaire lawyer, Leo Waldeck. During the
deliberations on the constitution they
erased the phrase " By the grace of God "
from the king's titles, and resolved on
October 31st, 1848, to request the Imperial
Government in Frankfort to send help to
the revolted Viennese. This step led to
long continued communications between
the Assembly and the unemployed classes,
who were collected by the democratic
agitators, and surrounded the royal theatre
where the deputies held their sessions.
On November ist. 1848, news arrived
of the fall of Vienna, and Frederic William
IV. determined to intervene in support of
his kingdom. He dismissed Pfuel and
placed Count William of Brandenburg,
son of his grandfather Frederic William II.
and of the Countess Sophia Juliana
Friederika of Donhoff, at the
. . head of a new ]\Iinistr3^ He
_ ^ . then despatched 15.000 troops,
under General Friedrich von
Wrangel, to Berlin, the city being shortly
afterwards punished by the declaration of
martial law. The National Assembly was
transfen'ed from Berlin to Brandenburg.
The Left, for the purpose of " undisturbed "
deliberation, repeatedly met in the Berlin
coffee-houses, despite the prohibition of
the president of the Ministry, but even-
tually gave way and followed the Con-
servatives to Brandenburg, after being twice
dispersed by the troops. Berlin and the
Marks gave no support to the democracy.
The majority of the population dreaded
a reign of terror by the " Reds," and
were delighted with the timely opposi-
tion. They also manifested their satis-
faction at the dissolution of the National
Assembly, which had given few appre-
ciable signs of legislative activity in
Brandenburg, at the publication on
December 5th, 1848, of a constitutional
scheme drafted by the Government, and
the issue of writs for the election of a
Prussian Landtag which was to revase the
law of suffrage. Some opposition was
noticeable in the provinces, but was for the
moment of a moderate nature. The
interference of the Frankfort Parliament in
the question of the Prussian constitution
produced no effect whatever. The centres
of the Right and Left had there united and
taken the lead, then proceeding to pass
resolutions which would not hinder the
Prussian • Government in asserting its
right to determine its own affairs. Public
opinion in Germany had thus changed ;
_ , there was a feeling in favour
rmany « |- jij^j^ij^gr the demands that
Kejection of • , , ? , . , ,
Radicalism ""^^Sht arise during the con-
stitutional (fefinition of the
national rights ; moreover, the majority
of the nation had declined adherence to
the tenets of radicalism. It seemed
that these facts were producing a highly
desirable change of direction .in the
energies of the German National Assembl}^ ;
the provisional central power was even
able to pride itself upon a reserve of force,
for the Prussian Government had placed
its united forces, 326,000 men, at its dis-
posal, as was announced by Schmerling,
the imperial Minister, on October 23rd, 1848.
None the less, an extraordinary
degree of statesmanship and political
capacity was required to cope with the
obstacles which lay before the creation
of a national federation organised as a
state, with adequate power to deal with
domestic and foreign policy. But not only
was this supreme political insight required
of the national representatives ; theirs, too,
must be the task of securing the support
of the Great Powers, without which the
desired federation was unattainable.
This condition did not apply for the
moment in the case of Austria, whose
decision was of the highest importance.
Here an instance recurred of the law
constantly exemplified in the lives both
of individuals and of nations, 'that a
recovery of power stimulates to aggression
instead of leading to discretion. True
wisdom would have concentrated the
national aims upon a clearh^ recognisable
and attainable object^namely, the trans-
formation of the old dvnastic
Suppressing g^. ^j ^^^ Hapsbufgs into
R^ o3n"'"' ^ "'°^^™ ^^''^^- ^^^^' ^
cvo u ion change would of itself Imve
determined the form of the federation with
the new German state, which could well
have been left to develop in its own way.
Russian help for the suppression of the
Hungarian revolt would have been un-
necessary ; it would have been enthu-
siastically given by the allied Prussian
otate under Frederic William IV. The
4961
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
only tasks oi Austria-Hungary for the
immediate future would have been the
fostering of her civilisation, the improve-
ment of domestic prosperity, and the
extension of her influence in the Balkan
peninsula. Even her Italian par^mountcy,
had it been worth retaining,
The Catholic could hardly have been wrested
Dynasty fromher. No thinking member
m Germany ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ Hapsburg
could deny these facts at the pre.sent day.
Possibly even certain representatives of
that ecclesiastical power which has en-
deavour^ for three centuries to make
the Hapsburg dynasty the champion of
its interests might be
brought to admit that
the efforts devoted to
preserving the hereditary
position of the Catholic
dynasty in Germany led
to a very injudicious
expenditure of energy.
But such a degree of
political foresight was
sadly to seek in the
winter of 1 848-1 849. The
onlv man who had almost
reached that standpoint,
the old Wessenberg, was
deprived of his influence
at the critical moment of
decision. His place was
taken by one whose
morality was even lower
than his capacity or pre-
vious training, and whose
task was nothing less than
the direction of a newly
developed state and the
invention of some modus
Vivendi between the out-
raged and insulted
dynasty and the agitators, devoid alike
of sense and conscience, who had plied
the nationalities of the Austrian Empire
with evil counsel. Prince Windisch-
Graetz was quite able to overpower
street rioters or to crush the " legions "
of Vienna ; but his vocation was not
that of a general or a statesman.
However, his word was all-powerful at
the court in Olmiitz. On November 21st,
1S48, Prince Felix Schwarzenberg became
head of the Austrian Government. His
political views were those of Windisch-
Graetz, whose intellectual superior he
was, though his decisions were in conse-
quence the more hasty and ill-considered.
4062
FREDERIC WILLIAM IV.
King of Prussia, he declined the imperial crown
offered him by the Frankfort Diet in 1849. His
reign was, on the whole, a disappointing one.
His policy upon German questions was
modelled on that of Metternich. The
only mode of action which commended
itself to the Emperor Francis Joseph I.,
now eighteen years of age, was one
promising a position of dignity, combining
all the " splendour " of the throne of
Charles the Great with the inherent force
of a modern Great Power. A prince of
chivalrous disposition, who had witnessed
the heroic deeds of his army under
Radetzky, with the courage to defend
his fortunes and those of his state at the
point of the sword, would never have
voluntarily yielded his rights, his honour-
able position, and the
family traditions of cen-
turies, even if the defence
of these had not been
represented by his ad-
visers as a ruler's inevit-
able task and as absolutely
incumbent upon him.
The Frankfort Parlia-
ment had already dis-
cussed the " fundamental
rights." It had deter-
mined by a large majority
that personal union was
the only possible form of
alliance between any part
of Germany and foreign
countries ; it had decided
upon the use of the two-
chamber system in the
Reichstag; and had se-
cured representation in
the "Chamber of the
States" to the govern-
ments even of the smallest
states ; it had made
provision tor the customs
union until May i8th,
Among the leaders of the
Centre the opinion then gained ground that
union with Austria would be mipossible in
as close a sense as it was possible with the
other German states, and that the only
means of assuring the strength and unity
of the pure German states was
to confer the dignity of emperor
upon the King of Prussia.
The promulgation of this idea
resulted in a new cleavage of parties.
The majority of the moderate Liberal
Austrians seceded from their associates
and joined the Radicals, Ultramontanes,
and Particularists, with the object of
preventing the introduction of Prussia as
1849, 3-t latest.
Secessions
Among the
Liberals
THE SEARCH AFTER GERMAN FEDERATION
an empire into the imperial constitution.
Schmerling resigned the presidency of
the imperial Ministry. The Imperial Ad-
ministrator was forced to replace him by
Heinrich von Gagern, the first president
of the Parliament. His programme was
announced on December i6th, and proposed
the foundation of a close federal alliance
of the German states under Prussian
leadership, while a looser federal connection
was to exist with Austria, as arranged by
the settlement of the Vienna Congress.
After three days' discussion, on January
iith-i4th, 1849, this programme was
accepted by 261 members of the Ger-
man National Assembly as against 224.
Sixty Austrian deputies entered a protest
against this resolution, denying the right
of the Parliament to exchide the German
Austrians from the German Federal State.
The Austrian Government was greatly
disturbed at the promulgation of the
Gagern programme, and objected to the
legislative powers of the Frankfort
Assembly in general terms on February 7th,
declaring her readiness to co-operate in a
union of the German states, and protest-
^ . . -.Mr.... ing against the " remodel-
Fredcric William ■,■ >? r ■ ,■ -,-
_ Img of existmg condi-
mperor tions. Thus, she adopted
01 the Germans .,. ^t
a position correspondmg
to that of the federation of 1815. The
decision now remained with the king,
Frederic William IV. ; he accepted the
imperial constitution of March 28th, 1849,
and was forthwith elected Emperor of the
Germans by 290 of the 538 deputies present.
The constitution in document form
was .signed by only 366 deputies, as
the majority of the Austrians and the
ultramontanes declined to acknowledge
the supremacy of a Protestant Prussia.
The 290 electors who had voted for the
king constituted, however, a respectable
majority. Still, it was as representatives
of the nation that they offered him the
impel ial Crown, and the}' made their offer
conditional upon his recognition of the
imperial constitution which had been
resolved upon in Frankfort. It was
therein provided that in all questions of
legislation the decision should rest with
the popular House in the Reichstag.
The imperial veto was no longer uncon-
ditional, but could only defer discussion
over three sittings. This the King of Prussia
was unable to accept, if only for the reason
that he was already involved in a warm
discussion with Austria, Bavaria, and
Wiirtemberg upon the form of a German
federal constitution which was to be laid
before the Parliament by the princes.
The despatch of a parliamentary depu-
ta^on to Berlin was premature, in view of
the impossibility of that unconditional
acceptance of the imperial title desired and
expected by Dahlmann and the professor
Where the ^^ Konigsberg, Martin Eduard
j^.^ Simson, at that time president
Blundered 2? the National Assembly.
i he only answer that Frederic
William could give on April 3rd, 1849, was
a reply postponing his decision. •This the
delegation construed as a refusal, as it
indicated hesitation on the king's part to
recognise the Fxankfort constitution in its
entirety. The king erred in believing that
an arrangement with Austria still lay
within the bounds of possibility ; he failed
to see that Schwarzenberg only desired to
restore the old Federal Assembly, while
securing greater power in it to Austria than
she had had under Metternich.
The royal statesman considered Hungary
as already subjugated, and conceived as
in existence a united state to be formed of
the Austrian and Hungarian territories,
together with Galicia and Dalmatia; he
desired to secure the entrance of this state
within the federation, which he intended
to be not German but a Central European
federation under Austrian leadership.
On the return of the parliamentary
deputation to Frankfort with the refusal
of the King of Prussia, the work of con-
stitution-building was brought to a stand-
still. The most important resolutions,
those touching the head of the empire, had
proved impracticable. The more far-
sighted members of the Parliament recog-
nised this fact, and also saw that to re-
model the constitution would be to play
into the hands of the Republicans. How-
ever, their eyes were blinded to the fact
that twenty-four petty states of different
sizes had accepted the constitution, and
. they ventured to hope for an
The National i^iprovement in the situation.
Assembly Led ^^^^ Liberals were uncertain
by Democrats ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ the power
which could be assigned to the nation, in
contradistinction to the governments, with-
out endangering the social fabric and the
existence of civic society. To this lack of
definite views is chiefly to be ascribed the
fact that the German National Assembly
allowed the Democrats to lead it into
revolutionary tendencies, until it ended
4963
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
its existence in pitiable disruption. The
Liberals, moreover, cannot be acquitted
from the charge of playing the dangerous
game of inciting national revolt with the
object of carrying through the oron-
stitution which they had devised and
drafted — a constitution, too, which meant
a breach with the continuity of German
historical development. They
fomented popular excitement
Royal Family
Expelled
From Dresden
and brought about armed
risings of the illiterate mobs of
Saxony, the Palatinate, and Baden. The
royal fafhily were expelled from Dresden
by a revolt on May 3rd, and Prussian
troops were obliged to reconquer the
capital at the cost of severe fighting on
May 7th and 8th. It was necessary to
send two Prussian corps to reinforce the
imperial army drawn from Hesse, Mecklen-
burg, Nassau, and Wiirtemberg, for the
overthrow of the republican troops which
had concentrated at Rastadt.
Heinrich von Gagern and his friends
regarded the advance of the Prussians as a
breach of the peace in the empire. The
Gagern Ministry resigned, as the Archduke
John could not be persuaded to oppose
the Prussians. The Imperial Administra-
tor had already hinted at his retirement
after the imperial election : but the
Austrian Government had insisted upon
his retention of his office, lest the King of
Prussia should step into liis place. He
formed a conservative Ministry under the
presidency of the Prussian councillor of
justice, Gravell, which was received with
scorn and derision by the Radicals, who
were now the dominant j^arty in the
Parliament. More than a hundred deputies
of the centres then withdrew with Gagern,
Dahlmann, Welcker, Simson, and Mathy
from May 12th to 26th, 184c).
The Austrian Government had recalled
the Austrian deputies on Aijril 4th from the
National Assembly, an example followed
by Prussia on the 14th. On May 30th, 71
of 135 voters who took part
in the discussion supported
Karl Vogt's proposal to
transfer the Parliament from
Frankfort to Stuttgart, where a victory for
Suabian republicanism was expected. In the
end 105 representatives of German stupidity
and political ignorance, including, unfortu-
nately, Lewis Uhland, gave the world the
ridiculous spectacle of the opening of the
so-called Rump Parliament at Stuttgart on
June 6th, 1849, which reached the crown-
4964
German
" Stupidity and
Ignorance "
ing folly in the election of five " imperial
regents." The arrogance of this company,
which even presumed to direct the move-
ments of the Wiirtemberg troops, proved
inconvenient to the government, which ac-
cordingly closed the meeting hall. The first
German Parliament then expired after a
few gatherings in the Hotel Marquardt.
The Imperial Government, the Admini-
strator and his Ministry, retained their
offices until December, 1849, notwith-
standing repeated demands for their
resignation. A committee of four members,
appointed as a provisional central power
by Austria and Prussia, then took over all
business, documentary and financial. As
an epilogue to the Frankfort Parliament,
mention may be made of the gathering of
160 former deputies of the first German
Reichstag, which had belonged to the
" imperial party," The meeting was held
in Gotha on June 26th. Heinrich von
Gagern designated the meeting as a private
conference ; however, he secured the
assent of those present to a programme
drawn up by himself which asserted the
desirability of a narrower, " little Ger-
„ . . man," federation under the
Proclamation , , , • r t> t
,,^ _ . headship of Prussia, or of
of the Prussian j^i ^ i
-, ^ another central power m
Oovernment ■ . ■ .li t.
association with Prussia.
Upon the recall of the Prussian deputies
from the Frankfort Parliament the Prus-
sian Government issued a proclamation to
the German people on May 5th, 1849,
declaring itself henceforward responsible
for the work of securing the unity which
was justly demanded for the vigorous
representation of German interests abroad,
and for common legislation in constitu-
tional form ; that is, with tl^e co-operation
of a national house of representatives.
In the conferences of the ambassadors of
the German states, which were opened at
Berlin on May 17th, the Prussian pro-
gramme was explained to be the formation
of a close federation exclusive of Austria,
and the creation of a wider federation
which should include the Hapsburg state.
Thus in theory had been discovered the
form which the transformation of Germany
should take. On her side Prussia did not
entirely appreciate the fact that this
programme could not be realised by means
of ministerial promises alone, and that the
whole power of the Prussian state would be
required to secure its acceptance. The
nation, or rather the men to whom the
nation had entrusted its future, also failed
THE SEARCH AFTER GERMAN FEDERATION
to perceive that this form was the only
kind of unity practically attainable, and
that to it must be sacrificed those
" guarantees of freedom " which liberal
doctrinaires declared indispensable.
It now became a question of deciding
between a radical democrac}^ and a
moderate constitutional monarchy, and
German Liberalism vyas ]:)recluded from
coming to any honourable conclusion.
Regardless of consequences, it exchanged
amorous glances with the opposition in
non-Prussian countries ; it considered
agreement with the Government as treason
to the cause of freedom, and saw reaction
where nothing of the kind was to be found.
It refused to give public support to aggres-
sive Republicanism, fearing lest the people,
when in arms, should prove a menace to
private property, and lose that respect
for* the growing wealth of individual
enterprise which ought to limit their
aspirations ; at the same time, it declined
to abate its pride, and continued to press
wholly immoderate demands upon the
authorities, to whom alone it owed the
maintenance of the existing social order.
_. _, . The Baden revolt had been
I he Prussians j i, j.i. -r>
J. .. . suppressed by the Prussian
_. ,. troops under the command of
as Deliverers y^ . '■ tttit r. i
Prmce William, afterwards
emperor, who invaded the land which the
Radicals had thrown into confusion, dis-
persed the Republican army led by Miero-
slawski and Hecker in a series of engage-
ments, and reduced, on July 23rd. 1849,
the fortress of Rastadt, which had fallen
into the hands of the Republicans. The
Liberals at first hailed the Prussians as
deliverers ; the latter, however, proceeded
b\/ court-martial against the leaders, whose
crimes had brought misery upon thousands
and had reduced a flourishing province to
desolation. Seventeen death sentences
were passed, and prosecutions were in-
stituted against the mutinous officers and
soldiers of Baden.
The "free-thinking" party, which had
recovered from its fear of the " Reds," could
then find no more pressing occupation than
to rouse public feeling throughout South
Germany against Prussia and "militarism,"
and to level unjustifiable reproaches against
the prince in command, whose clever general-
ship merited the gratitude not only of
Baden but of every German patriot. Even
then a solution of the German problem
might have been possible had the Demo-
crats in South Germany laid aside their
fear of Prussian " predominance," and
considered their secret struggle against
an energetic administration as less im-
portant than the establishment of a
federal state, commanding the respect of
other nations. But the success of the
Prussian j^rogramme could have been
secured only by the joint action of the
„ , whole nation. Unanimity of
. . r IT • this kind was a very remote
Idea of Union ., .,., -r^ , -^ ^ ,,
Abandoned Possibility. Fearful of the
Prussian reaction. the
nation abandoned the idea of German unity,
to be driven into closer relation*^ with the
sovereign powers of the smaller and the
petty states, and ultimately to fall under
the heavier burden of a provincial reaction.
Austria had recalled her ambassador,
Anton, Count of Prokesch-Osten, from the
Berlin Conference, declining all negotiation
for the reconstitution of German interests
upon the basis of the Prussian proposals ;
but she could not have despatched an
army against Prussia in the summer of
1849. Even with the aid of her ally
Bavaria, she was unable to cope with the
300.000 troops which Prussia alone could
place in the field at that time ; in Hun-
gary, she had been obliged to call in the
help of Russia. United action by Ger-
many would probably have met with no
opposition whatever. But Germany was
not united, the people as little as the
princes ; consequently when Prussia, after
the ignominious failure of the Parliament
and its high promise, intervened to secure
at least some definite result from the
national movement, her well-meaning
proposals met with a rebuff as humiliating
as it was undeserved.
The result of the Berlin Conferences
was the " alliance of the three kings " of
Prussia, Hanover, and Saxon}' on May 26th,
1849. Bavaria and Wiirtemberg declined
to join the alliance on account of the claims
lO leadership advanced by Prussia ; but
the majority of the other German states
gave in their adherence in the
Results of
the Berlin
Conferences
course of the summer,
federal council of administra-
tion met on June i8th, and
made arrangements for the convocation of
a Reichstag, to which was to be submitted
the federal constitution when the agree-
ment of the Cabinets thereon had been
secured. Hanover and Saxony then raised
objections and recalled their representa-
tives on the administrative council on
October 20th. However, Prussia was able
4965
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORI.P
to fix the meeting of the Reichstag for
March 20th, 1850, at Erfurt. Austria
now advanced claims in support of the
old federal constitution, and suddenly
demanded that it should continue , in
full force. This action was supported
by Bavaria, which advocated the forma-
tion of a federation of the smaller states,
which was to prepare another
Proposed
Federation ,,
of States
constitution as a rival to the
union" for which Prussia was
working. The Saxon Minister,
Beust, afterwards of mournful fame in
German}^ and Austria, who fought against
the Saxon particularism, which almost
surpassed that prevalent in Bavaria,
and was guided by personal animosity to
Prussia, became at that moment the most
zealous supporter of the statesmanlike
plans of his former colleague, Pfordten,
who had been appointed Bavarian Minister
of Foreign Affairs in April, 1849.
Hanover was speedily won over, as Aus-
tria proposed to increase her territory with
Oldenburg, in order to create a second North
German power as a counterpoise to Prussia,
while Wiirtemberg declared her adherence
to the " alliance of the four kings " with
startling precipitancy. The chief attrac-
tion was the possibility of sharing on
equal terms in a directory of seven mem-
bers with Austria, Prussia, and the two
Hesses, which were to have a vote in
common. The directory was not to exercise
the functions of a central power, but was
to have merely powers of "superintend-
ence," even in questions of taxation and
commerce. The claims of the Chambers were
to be met by the creation of a " Reichstag,"
to which they were to send deputies.
Upon the secession of the kingdoms
from Prussia, disinclination to the work
of unification was also manifested by the
electorate of Hesse, where the elector
had again found a Minister to his liking
in the person of Daniel von Hassen-
pflvig. It would, however, have been quite
• possible to make Prussia the
®. "*^ ^ centre of a considerable power
, „ by the coniunction of all the re-
for Peace - . . r i i i i
mammg federal provmces had
the Erfurt Parliament been entrusted with
the task of rapidly concluding the work of
unification. In the meantime Frederic
William, under the influence of friends
who favoured feudalism, Ernst Liidwig
of Gerlach and Professor Stahl, had aban-
doned his design of forming a restricted
federation, and was inspired with the
4966
invincible conviction that it was his duty
as a Christian king to preserve peace with
Austria at any price ; for Austria, after,
her victorious struggle with the revolution,
had become the prop and stay of all
states where unlimited monarchy protected
by the divine right of kings held sway.
To guard this institution against Liberal
onslaughts remained the ideal of his life,
Prussian theories of politics and the
paroxysms of German patriotism ' not-
withstanding. He therefore rejected the
valuable help now readily offered to him
in Erfurt by the old imperial party of
Frankfort, and clung to the utterly vain
and unsupported hope that he could carry
out the wider form of federation with
Austria in some manner compatible with
German interests. His hopes were forth-
with shattered by Schwarzenberg's convo-
cation of a congress of the German fe#eral
states at Frankfort, and Prussia's position
became daily more u.nfavourable, although
a meeting of the princes desirous of union
was held in Berlin in May, 1850, and
accepted the temporary continuance until
July 15th, 1850, of the restricted federa-
^ tion under Prussian leadership.
,°r *J°*'^ The Tsar Nicholas I. was
of the 1 sar s j.i j tj.ii
j^ .. urgently demandmg the conclu-
' ^ sion of the Schleswig-Holstein
complication, which he considered as due
to nothing but the intrigues of malevolent
revolutionaries in Copenhagen and the
duchies. In a meeting with Prince William
of Prussia, which took place at Warsaw
towards the end of May, 1850, the Tsar
clearly stated that, in the event of the
German question resulting in war between
Prussia and Austria, his neutrality would
be conditional upon the restoration of
Danish supremacy over the rebels in
Schleswig-Holstein.
Henceforward Russia stands between
Austria and Prussia as arbitrator. Her
intervention was not as unprejudiced as
Berlin would have been glad to suppose ;
she was beforehand determined to support
Austria, to protect the old federal con-
stitution, the Danish supremacy over
Schleswig-Holstein, and the Elector of
Hesse, Frederic William I., who had at
that moment decided on a scandalous
breach of faith with his people. This un-
happy prince had already inflicted serious
damage upon his country and its admir-
able population ; he now proceeded to
commit a crime against Germany by
stirring up a fratricidal war, which was
THE SEARCH AFTER GERMAN FEDERATION
fed by a spirit of pettifogging selfishness
and despicable jealousy. A Liberal reaction
•had begun, and the spirit of national self-
assertion was fading ; no sooner had the
elector perceived these facts than he
proceeded to utilise them for the achieve-
ment of his desires. He dismissed the
constitutional Ministry, restored Has-
senpfiug to favour on February 22nd, 1850,
and permitted him to raise taxes un-
authorised by the Chamber for the space
of six months. The Chamber raised objec-
tions to this proceeding, and thereby gave
of turning their arms upon their fellow-
citizens, who were entirely within their
rights. The long-desired opportunity of
calling in foreign help was thus provided ;
but the appeal was not made to the board
of arbitration of the union, to which the
electorate of Hesse properly belonged,
but to the Federal Council, which Austria
had reopened in Frankfort on October
15th, 1850.
With the utmost readiness Count
Schwarzenberg accepted the unexpected
support of Hassenpfiug, whose theories
STRIVING FOR GERMAN UNITY: THE DRESDEN CONFEREKlIi- ' : ]<>0
In the search after federation, which occupied the attention of the German states, the differences between Austria
and Prussia created a serious difficulty. The question of federal reform was discussed in free conferences at Dresden,
one of these assemblies, with the delegates from the various states concerned.being represented in the above picture.
Hassenpfiug a handle which enabled him
to derange the whole constitution of the
electorate of Hesse. On September 7th the
country was declared subject to martial law.
For this step there was not the smallest
excuse ; peace everywhere prevailed.
The officials who had taken the oaths
of obedience to the constitution declined
to act in accordance with -the declara-
tion, and their refusal was construed
as rebellion. On October 9th the
officers of the Hessian army resigned,
almos*: to a man, to avoid the necessity
coincided with his own. The rump of the
Federal Parliament, which was entirely
under his influence, was summoned not
only wTthout the consent of Prussia but
without any intimation to the Prusians
Cabinet. This body at once determined to
employ the federal power for the restora-
tion of the elector to Hesse, though he had
left Cassel of his own will and under no
compulsion, fleeing to Wilhelmsbad with
his Alinisters at the beginning of Septem-
ber. Schwarzenberg was well aware that
his action would place the King of Prussia
4967
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
in a most embarrassing situation. Federa-
tion and union were now in mutual
opposition. On the one side was Austria,
with the kingdoms and the two Hesses ;
on the other was Piiissia, with the united
petty states, which were little better
than worthless for military purposes.
Austria had no need to seek occasion
. , to revenge herself for the re-
us ria g^i^ ^1 ^j^^ imperial election,
Cireat Power - ■
in Germany
which was ascribed to Prussian
machinations ; her oppor-
tunity was at hand in the appeal of a
most valuable member of the federation,
the worthy Elector of Hesse, to his brother
monarchs for protection against demo-
cratic presumption, against the insanities
of constitutionalism, against a forsworn
and mutinous army. Should Prussia now
oppose the enforcement of the federal
will in Hesse, she would be making common
cause with rebels.
The Tsar would be forced to oppose the
democratic tendencies of his degenerate
brother-in-law, and to take the field with
the Conservative German states, and with
Austria, who was crowding on full sail for
• the haven of absolutism. To have created
this situation, and to have drawn the
fullest advantage from it, was the master-
stroke of Prince Felix Schwarzenberg's
policy. Austria thereby reached the
zenith of her power in Germany.
The fate of Frederic William IV. now
becomes tragical. The heavy punishment
meted out to the overweening self-confi-
dence of this ruler, the fearful disillusion-
ment which he was forced to experience
from one whom he had treated with full
confidence and respect, cannot but evoke
the sympathy of every spectator. He had
himself declined that imperial crown
which Austria so bitterly grudged him.
He had rejected the overtures of the
imperial party from dislike to their
democratic theories. He had begun the
work of overthrowing the constitutional
^^ _ , principles of the constitution
The Swora <• , i xr i i
„, , ot the union. He had sur-
Th ^ T^^ rendered Schleswig-Holstein
because his conscience would
not allow him to support national against
monarchical rights, and because he feared
to expose Prussia to the anger of his
brother-in-law. He had opposed the ex-
clusion of Austria from the wider federation
of the German states. He had always
been prepared to act in conjunction with
Austria in the solution of questions
49^,8
affecting Germany at large, while claiming
for Prussia a right which was provided
in the federal constitution — the right of,
forming a close federation, the right which,
far from diminishing, would strengthen
the power of the whole organism. And
now the sword was placed at his throat,
equality of rights was denied to him, and
he was requested to submit to the action of
Austria as paramount in Germany, to
submit to a federal executive, which had
removed an imperial administrator, though
he was an Austrian duke, which could only
be reconstituted with the assent of every
German government, and not by eleven
votes out of seventeen !
For two months the king strove hard,
amid the fiercest excitement, to maintain
his position. At the beginning of October,
1850, he sent assurances to Vienna of his
readiness " to settle all points of diffefcnce
with the Emperor of Austria from the
standpoint of an old friend." He quietly
swallowed the arrogant threats of Bavaria,
and was not to be provoked by the warlike
speeches delivered at Bregenz on the
occasion of the meeting of the Emperor
Francis Joseph with the kings of South
Germany, on October nth. He
continued to rely upon the insight
„ . of the Tsar, with whose ideas
he was m lull agreement, and
sent Count Brandenburg to Warsaw to
assure him of his pacific intentions, and to
gain a promise that he would not allov/
the action of the federation in Hesse and
Holstein to pass unnoticed. Prince
Schwarzenberg also appeared in Warsaw,
and it seemed that there might be some
possibility of an understanding between
Austria and Prussia upon the German
question. Schwarzenberg admitted that
the Federal Council might be replaced by
free conferences of the German Powers, as
in i8iq ; he did not, however, explain
whether these conferences were to be
summoned for the purpose of appointing
the new central power, or whether the
Federal Council was to be convoked for
that object.
He insisted unconditionally upon the
execution of the federal decision in
Hesse, which implied the occupation of
the whole electorate b}' German and
Bavarian troops. This Prussia could not
allow, for military reasons. The ruler of
Prussia was therefore forced to occupy
the main roads to the Rhine province, and
had already sent forward several thousand
THE SEARCH AFTER GERMAN FEDERATION
men under Count Charles from the Groben
to the neighbourhood of Fulda for this
puri)ose. The advance of the Bavarians
in this direction would inevitably result
in a collision with the Prussian troops,
unless these latter were first withdrawn.
Count Brandenburg returned to Berlin
resolved to prevent a war which offered no
prospect of success in view of the Tsar's
attitude. Radowitz, who had been Min-
ister of Foreign Affairs since September
27th, 1850, called for the mobihsation of
the army, and was inclined to accept the
challenge to combat ; he considered the
Austrian preparations comparatively in-
nocuous, and was convinced that Russia
would be unable to concentrate any con-
siderable body of troops on the Prussian
frontier before the summer.
O^ November 2nd, 1850, the king
also declared for the mobilisation, though
with the intention of continuing nego-
tiations with Austria, if possible ; he
was ready, however, to adopt Branden-
burg's view of the situation, if a majoiity
in the ministerial council could be found
to support this policy. Brandenburg
. , succumbed to a sudden attack
of bram fever on November
. ^ 5th, not, as was long supposed,
m Germany , ' ,. , ,,° ^.^ ,.
to vexation at the rejection
of his policy of resistance ; his work was
taken gp and completed by Manteuffel,
after Radowitz had left the Ministr3^
After the first shots had been exchanged
between the Prussian and Bavarian troops
at Bronzell, to the south of Fulda, on
November 8th. he entirely abandoned the
constitution of the union, allowed the
Bavarians to advance upon the condition
that Austria permitted the simultaneous
occupation of the high roads by Prussian
troops, and started with an autograph
tetter from the king and Queen Elizabeth
to meet the Emperor Francis Joseph and
his mother, the Archduchess Sophie,
sister of the Queen of Prussia, in order
to discuss conditions of peace with
the Austrian Prime ^Minister. Prince
Schwarzenberg was anxious to proceed
to extremities ; but the young emperor
had no intention of beginning a war
with his relatives, and obliged Schwarz-
enberg to yield. At the emperor's
command he '. signed the stipulation of
Olmiitz on November 2qth, 1850, under
which Prussia fully satisfied the Austrian
demands, receiving one sole concession
in return — that the question of federal
reform should be discussed in free con-
ferences at Dresden. Thus Prussia's
German policy had ended in total failure.
She was forced to abandon all hope of
realising the Gagern ])rogramme by
forming a narrower federation under her
own leadership, exclusive of popular re-
presentation, direct or indirect. Prussia
T,. « . lost greatly in prestige ; the
The Reproach ,, " • - 1,1,
, „ . . enthusiasm aroused through-
01 b rederic - .1 , ,
William provinces by the
prospect of war gave place
to bitter condemnation of the vacillation
imputed to the king after the " capitula-
tion of Olmiitz." Even his brother. Prince
WilUam, burst into righteous indignation
during the Cabinet Council of December
2nd, 1850, at the stain on the white shield
of Prussian honour.
Until his death, Frederic William IV. was
reproached with humiliating Prussia, and
reducing her to a position among the German
states which was wholly unworthy of her.
Yet it is possible that the resolution w^hich
gave Austria a temporary victory was the
most unselfish offering which the king could
then have made to the German nation.
He resisted the temptation of founding a
North German federation with the help
and alliance of France, which was offered
by Persigny, the confidential agent of
Louis Napoleon. Fifty thousand French
troops had been concentrated at Strassburg
for the realisation of this project. They
would have invaded South Germany and
devastated Swabia and Bavaria in the
cause of Prussia. But it was not by such
methods that German unity was to be
attained, or a German Empire to be
founded. Renunciation for the moment
was a guarantee of success hereafter.
In his " Reflections and Recollections "
Prince Bismarck asserts that Stockhausen,
the Minister of War. considered the Prus-
sian forces in November, 1850. inadequate
to check the advance upon Berlin of the
Austrian army concentrated in Bohemia.
He had leceived this informa-
Problem ^ ^^^^ ^^_^^ Stockhausen, and
of Germany s ^^^ defended the king's atti-
*" tude in the Chamber. He also
thinks he has established the fact that
Prince William, afterwards his king and
emperor, was convinced of the incapacity
of Prussia to deal a decisive blow at that
period. He made no mention of his con-
viction that such a blow must one day
be delivered ; but this assurance seems
to have grown upon him from that date.
4969
THE
RE-MAKINU
OF
EUROPE
EUROPE
IN
REVOLUTION
VII
REACTION IN CENTRAL EUROPE
AN ERA OF GENERAL STAGNATION
HTHE \ictory of Schwarzenberg in Olmiitz
•*• gave a predominating influence -^n
Central Europe to the spirit of the Tsar
Nicholas I., the narrowness and bigotry of
which is not to be paralleled in anj? of those
periods of stagnation which have inter-
rupted the social development of Europe.
Rarely has a greater want of common sense
„. , been shown in the government
Hindrances r .wj. ■ -r i j.-
_ , oi any \\ estern civilised nation
urope than was displayed during the
Development , •', , o
years subsequent to 1050 — a
period which has attained in this respect
a well-deserved notoriety. It is true that
the preceding movement had found the
^ nations immature, and therefore incapable
of solving the problems with which they
were confronted. The spirit was willing,
but the flesh was unprepared.
The miserable delusion that construc-
tion is a process as easy and rapid as
destruction ; that a few months can accom-
plish what centuries have failed to perfect ;
that an honest attempt to improve political
institutions must of necessity effect the
desired improvement ; the severance of
the theoretical from the practical, which
was the iniin of every politician — these
were the obstacles which prevented the
national leaders from making timely use
of that tremendous power which was
placed in their hands in the month of
March. 1848. Precious time was squan-
dered in the harangues of rival orators,
in the formation of parties and chibs, in
over-ambitious programmes and compla-
Ti. XM- • c'^nt self -laudation thereon, in
Ihe Mission j- 1 c ^
- displays of arrogance and
, .. „ ,. malevolent onslaughts.
L>iberalism t i i- r i , •
Li beralism was forced to resign
its claims ; it was unable to effect a com-
plete and unwavering severance from
radicalism ; it was unable to appreciate the
fact that its mission was not to govern, but
to secure recognition from the Government.
The peoples were unable to gain legal
confirmation of their rights, because they
bad no clear ideas upon the extent of
4970
those rights, and had not been taught that
self-restraint which was the only road to
success. Thus far all is sufficiently intelli-
gible, and, upon a retrospect, one is almost
inclined to think of stagnation as the result
of a conflict of counterbalancing forces.
But one phenomenon there is, which
becomes the more astonishing in ])ro-
portion as it is elucidated by that ^re
light of impartial criticism which the
non-contemporar}^ historian can throw
upon it — it is the fact that mental confu-
sion was followed by a cessation of mental
energy, that imperative vigour and interest
were succeeded by blatant stupidity, that
the excesses committed by nations in their
struggle for the right of self-determina-
tion were expiated by yet more brutal ex-
hibitions of the misuse of power, the blame
of which rests upon the governments, who
were the nominal guardians of right and
morality in their higher forms. I14 truth
a very moderate degree of wis-
dom in a few leading states-
men would have drawn the
proper conclusions from the
facts of the case, and have discovered the
formulae expressing the relation between
executive power and national strength.
But the thinkers who would have
been satisfied with moderate claims were
not to be found ; it seemed as if the
very intensity of political action had >
exhausted the capacity for government, as
if the conquerors had forgotten that they
too had been struggling to preserve the
state and to secure its internal consolida-
tion and reconstitution, that the revolution
had been caused simply by the fact that
the corrupt and degenerate state was
unable to perform what its subjects had
the right to demand.
The nations were so utterly depressed by
the sad experiences which they had brought
upon themselves as to show themselves
immediately sensible to the smallest ad-
vances of kindness and confidence. Irritated
by a surfeit of democratic theory, the
The Nations
Suffering from
Depression
STAGNATION AND REACTION IN CENTRAL EUROPE
PROGRESSIVE AUSTRIAN MINISTERS
Count Leo Thun and A. von Bach, whose portraits are given above,
were among the men of note who, after the storms of the revolutionary
years, supported the enlightened policy of Joseph II. As Minister
of Education, the former introduced compulsory education, put the
national schools under state control, and assisted the universities.
political organism had lost its tone. A
moderate allowance of riglits and freedom
would have acted as a stimulant, but the
constitution had been too far lowered for
hunger to act as a cure. Education and
amelioration, not punishment, were now
the mission of
the governments
which had re-
covered their
unlimited power ;
but they were
themselves both
uninformed and
unsympathetic.
The punishment
which they meted
out was inflicted
not from a sense
of duty, but in
revenge for the
blows which
they had been
compelled to en-
dure in the course
of the revolution
Most fatal to
Austria was the lack of creative power, of
experienced statesmen with education and
serious moral purpose. In this country
an enlightened government could have
attained its every desire. Opportunity
was provided for effecting a fundamental
change in the constitution ;
all opposition had been broken
down, and the stiong vitality
of the state had been brilhantly
demonstrated in one of the
hardest struggles for existence
in which the country had been
engaged for three centuries.
There was a new ruler, strong
bold, and well informed, full
of noble ambition and tender
sentiment, too young to be
hidebound by preconceived
opinion and yet old enough
to feel enthusiasm for his
lofty mission; such a man george v. of hanover ^^ate should have
would have been the strongest fhron^''o?^Halover'i„'^8Tl, the strength and protection
conceivable guarantee of sue- blind King George v. engaged m against future periods of storm.
,,P . ^ . , a long struggle with his people " , ,i i i iU„
cess to a Mmistry of wisdom in defence of absolutism, and Evcu at the present da\ tne
and experience capal^le of died an exile in Paris in 1878. veil has not been wholly parted
leading him in the path of steady progress which then shrouded the change of poUtical
Government had reserved to itself full scope
for exercising an independent influence
upon the development of the state. In
this arrangement the kingdom of Hungary
had been included after its subordinate
provinces had severed their connection
with the Crown
of Stephen,
obtaining special
provincial rights
of their own.
The best ad-
ministrative
officials in the
empire, Von
Schmerling,
Bach, Count
Thun. and Bruck,
were at the dis-
position of the
Prime Minister
for the work of
revivifying the
economic and in-
tellectual life of
the monarchy.
No objection
would have been raised to a plan for divid-
ing the non-Hungarian districts into bodies
analogous to the English count\^, and thus
lajang the impregnable foundations of a cen-
tralised government which would develop
as the education of the smaller national
entities advanced. The fate
of Austria was delivered into
the hands of the emperor's
advisers ; but no personality of
Radetzky's stamp was to be
found among them. The
leading figure was a haughty
nobleman, whose object and
pleasure were to sow discord
between Austria and the
Prussian king and people,
Austria's most faithful allies
since 1815. It was in Frank-
fort, and not in Vienna or
Budapest, that the Hapsburg
sought
and of respect for the national rights.
The clumsy and disjointed Reichstag of
Kremsier was dissolved on March 7th, and
on March 4th, 1849, a cons1 itution had been
voluntarily promulgated, in which the
theory in the leading circles at the Vienna
court' Certain, however, it is that this
change was not the work of men anxious
for progress, but was due to the machina-
tions of political parasites who plunged one
4971
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
of the best-intentioned of rulers into a
series of entanglements which a life of
sorrow and ciuel disappointments was
unable to unravel. The precious months
of 1850. when the nation would thankfully
have welcomed any cessation of the pre-
valent disturbance and terrorism, or any
sign of confidence in its capacities, were
allowed to pass by without an
TA f^* effort. In the following year
„ ,. the national enemies gained
Reaction ,, 1 i •.
the upper hand ; it was re-
solved to break with constitutionalism,
and to reject the claims of the citizens to
a share in the legislature and the admini-
stration. In September, 1851; the Govern-
ments of Prussia and, Sardinia were
ordered to annul the existing constitutions.
This was a step which surpassed even
Metternich's zeal for absolutism. Schmer-
ling and Bruck resigned their posts in the
Ministry on January 5th and May 23rd,
185 1, feeling their inability to make head
against the reactionary movement. On
August 20th, 1851, the imperial council
for which provision had been made in the
constitution of March 4th, 1849, was
deprived of its faculty of national repre-
sentation. As the council had not yet
been called into existence, the only inter-
pretation to be laid upon this step was
that the Ministry desired to re-examine the
desirability of ratifying the constitution.
On December 31st, 1851, the consti-
tution was annulled, and the personal
security of the citizens thereby endan-
gered, known as they were to be in favour
of constitutional measures. The police
and a body of gendarmes, who were ac-
corded an unprecedented degree of licence,
undertook the struggle, not against exag-
gerated and impracticable demands, but
against Liberalism as such, while the
authorities plumed themselves in the fond
delusion that this senseless struggle was
a successful stroke of statesmanship. En-
lightened centralisation would have found
^. _ . thousands of devoted coadiu-
1 he Dresden , ■, , 1 j
-, , tors and have awakened many
Conferences , . r 1 ^ ^1
t 01 t dormant forces ; but the cen-
tralisation of the reactionary
foes of freedom was bound to remain fruit-
less and to destroy the pure impulse which
urged the people to national activity.
The successes in foreign policy, by
which presumption had been fostered,
now ceased. During the Dresden con-
ferences, which had been held in Olmiitz,
Schwarzenberg found that he had been
4972
bitterly deceived in his federal allies among
the smaller states, and that he had
affronted Prussia to no purpose as far as
Austria was concerned. His object had
been to introduce such modifications in
the Act of Federation as would enable
Austria and the countries dependent on
her to enter the German Federation, which
would then be forced to secure the inviol-
ability of the whole Hapsburg power.
Britain and France declined to accept
these proposals. The German governments
showed no desire to enter upon a struggle
with two Great Powers to gain a federal
reform which could t)nly benefit Austria.
Prussia was able calmly to await the col-
lapse of Schwarzenberg 's schemes.
After wearisome negotiations, lasting
from December, 1850, to May, 1851, it be-
came clear that all attempts at reform were
futile as long as Austria declined to grant
Prussia the equality which she desired in
the presidency and in the formation of the
proposed " directory." Schwarzenberg
declined to yield, and all that could be
done was to return to the old federal
system, and thereby to make the dis-
„ creditable avowal that the
_ ''.'"f ^ - collective governments were
Funishment of , '^ ^^i j- • • . i
... . as powerless as the disjointed
parliament to amend the
unsatisfactory political situation. In the
federal palace at Frankfort-on-Main, where
the sovereignty of that German National
Assembly had been organised a short time
before, the opinion again prevailed, from
1851, that there could be no more dan-
gerous enemy to the state and to society
than the popular representative. The
unfortunate Liberals, humiliated and de-
pressed by their own incompetency, now
paid the penalty for their democratic
tendencies ; they were branded as
" destructive forces," and punished by
imprisonment which should properly have
fallen upon republican inconstancy.
The majority of the liberal constitutions
which the revolution of 1848 had brought
into existence were annulled ; this step was
quickly carried out in Saxony, Mecklen-
burg-Schwerin, and Wiirtemberg, in June,
September, and November, 1850, though
the Chamber continued an obstinate re
sistance until August, 1855, in Hanover,
where the blind King George V. had
ascended the throne on November i8th,
185 1. The favour of the federation re-
stored her detested ruler to the electorate
of Hesse. He positively revelled in the
STAGNATION AND REACTION IN CENTRAL EUROPE
cruelty and op])ression practised upon his
subjects by the troops of occupation. His
satellite, Hassenpflug, known as " Hessen-
Fluch," the curse of Hesse, zealously
contributed to increase the severity of
this despotism by his ferocity against
the recalcitrant officials, who considered
themselves bound by their obligations
to the constitution.
In Prussia the reactionary party would
very gladly have made an end of consti-
tutionalism once and for all ; but though
the king entertained a deep-rooted objec-
tion to the modern theories of popular parti-
cipation in the government, he declined to
be a party to any breach of the oath which
he had taken. Bunsen and Prince William
supported his objections to a coup d'etat,
which seemed the more unnecessary as a
constitutional change in the direction of
conservatism had been successfully carried
through on February 6th, 1850.
The system of three classes of direct
representation was introduced at the
end of April, 1849, taxation thus becoming
the measure of the political rights
exercised by the second Chamber. The
. , possibility of a labour majority
russia s -^ ^^^-^ Chamber was thus
f°L^% obviated. The Upper Chamber
was entirely remodelled. Mem-
bers were no longer elected, but were
nominated by the Crown ; seats were made
hereditary in the different noble families,
and the preponderance of the nobility was
thus secured. The institution of a full
house of lords on October 12th, 1854, ^^.s
not so severe a blow to the state as
the dissolution of the parish councils
and the reinstitution of the provincial
Landtags in 1851.
Schleswig-Holstein was handed over to
the Danes ; the constitution of Septem-
ber 15th, 1848, and German " proprietary
rights " were declared null and void by a
supreme authority composed of Austrian,
Prussian, and Danish commissioners. By
the London protocol of May 8th, 1852, the
Great Powers recognised the. succession of
Prince Christian of Holstein-Gliicksburg,
who had married Princess Louise, a
daughter of the Countess of Hesse, Louise
Charlotte, sister of Christian VI IL How-
ever, the German Federation did not favour
this solution ; the estates of the duchies,
who had the best right to decide the ques-
tion, were never even asked their opinion.
On December 30th, 1852, Duke Christian
of Holstein-Augustenburg sold his Schles-
wig estates to the reigning house of Den-
mark for £337,500, renouncing his here-
ditary rights at the same time, though the
other members of the family dechned to
accept the renunciation as binding upon
themselves. Thus the Danes gained but
a temporary victory. It was even then
clear that after the death of King Frederic
^. ..^ VII. the struggle would be
The Cjcrman , r ,,'^ ,•
_, ^ „ _ . renewed for the separation
Fleet Exposed ,- xu /- j .l i.
. . of the German districts
from the " Danish United
States." A legacy of the national move-
ment, the "German fleet," was put up to
auction at this date. The German Federa-
tion had no maritime interests to represent.
It declined the trouble of extorting a
recognition of the German flag from the
maritime Powers. Of the four frigates,
five corvettes, and six gunboats, which
had been fitted out at a cost of £540,000,
Prussia bought the larger part, after
Hanoverian machinations had induced
the Federal Council to determine the dis-
solution of the fleet on April 2nd, 1852.
Prussia acquired from Oldenburg a strip of
territory on the Jade Bay, and in course of
time constructed a naval arsenal and har-
bour, Wilhelmshaven, which enabled her to
appear as a maritime power in the Baltic.
These facts were the more important as
Prussia, in spite of violent opposition, had
maintained her position as head of that
economic unity which was now known as
the " Zollverein." The convention expired
on December 31st, 1853. From 1849,
Austria had been working to secure the
position, and at the tariff conference held
in Wiesbaden in June, 185 1, had secured
the support of every state of importance
within the Zollverein with the exception of
Prussia. Prussia was in consequence forced
to renounce the preference for protective
duties which she had evinced in the last
few years, and, on September 7th, 1851,
to join the free trade " Steuerverein,"
which Hanover had formed with Olden-
. , burg and Lippe in 1834 and
Austria s_ ^g^^ ^j^^ danger of a separa-
Treaty with ^-^^ between the eastern and
russia western territorial groups was
thus obviated ; the Zollverein of Austria
and the smaller German states were cut off
from the sea and deprived of all the
advantages which the original Prussian
Zollverein had offered. Austria now
thought it advisable to conclude a com-
mercial treaty with Prussia on favourable
terms on February 19th, 1853, and to
4973
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
leave the smaller states to their fate. In
any case their continual demands for
compensation and damages had become
wearisome. Nothing remained for them
except to join Prussia. Thus on April 4th,
1853, the Zollverein was renewed, to last
until December 31st, 1865. It was an
association embracing an area containing
T-.. i^i u. 35.000,000 inhabitants. As
The Church s ^^.^^^ ^j^g ^^j ^f Napoleon I.,
orPllnde/^ so now the lion's share of the
plunder acquired in the
struggle against the revolution fell to the
Church. Liberalism had indeed rendered
an important service to Catholicism by
incorporating in its creed the phrase,
" the Free Church in the Free State."
The Jesuits were well able to turn this
freedom to the best account. They de-
manded for the German bishops unlimited
powers of communication with Rome and
with the parochial clergy, together with
fun disciplinary powers over all priests
without the necessity of an appeal to
the state. Nothing was simpler than
to construe ecclesiastical freedom as im-
plying that right of supremacy for which
the Church had yearned during the past
eight centuries.
The Archbishop of Freiburg pushed the
theory with such brazen effrontery that
even the reactionary government was
lorced to imprison him. However, in
Darmstadt and Stuttgart the governments
submitted to the demands of Rome. Parties
in the Prussian Chamber were increased by
the addition of a new Catholic pai'ty, led
by the brothers Reichensperger, to which
high favour was shown by the " Catholic
Contingent " in the ministry of ecclesi-
astical affairs — a party created by the
ecclesiastical minister, Eichhorn, in 1841.
There was no actual collision in Prussia
between ultramontanism and the temporal
power. The Government favoured the
reaction in the Protestant Church, which
took the form of an unmistakable rap-
_ ,. prochement to Catholicism.
Keaction t^i t« -i, t
Ihe rowers were committed
to a policy of mutual counsel
and support. Stahl, Hengs-
tenberg, and Gerlach, who had gained com-
plete ascendancy over Frederic William IV.
since the revolution, were undermining
the foundations of the Protestant creed,
especially the respect accorded to inward
conviction, on which the whole of
Protestantism was based. In the
"regulations" of October, 1854, the
4974
in Protestant
Church
schools were placed under Church super-
vision, and in the "Church Councils"
hypocrisy was made supreme. WhenBunsen
advanced to champion the cause of spiritual
freedom, he gained only the honourable
title of " devastator of the Church."
In Austria the rights of the human
understanding were flouted even more
completely than in Russia by the conclu-
sion of the notorious concordat of August
i8th, 1855. This agieement was the
expression of an alliance between ultra-
montanism and the new centralising
absolutism. The hierarchy undertook for
a short period to oppose the national
parties and to commend the refusal of
constitutional rights. Ln return the
absolutist state placed the whole of its
administration at the disposal of the
Church, and gave the bishops uncondi-
tional supremacy over the clergy, who
had hitherto used the position assigned to
them by Joseph II. for the benefit of
the people, and certainly not for the
injury of the Church. The Church thus
gained a spiritual preponderance which
was used to secure her paramountcy. The
example of Austria was imi-
u-tj ^°^^ tated in the Italian states,
which owed their existence to
her. Piedmont alone gathered
the opponents of the Roman hierarchy
under her banner,, for this government at
least was determined that no patriot should
be led astray by the great fiction of a
national Pope. In Spain the Jesuits joined
the Carlists, and helped them to carry on
a hopeless campaign, marked by a series
of defeats. In Belgium, on the other hand,
they secured an almost impregnable posi-
tion in 1855, and fought the Liberals with
their own weapons. Only Portugal, whence
they had first been expelled in the eigh-
teenth century, kept herself free from their
influence in the nineteenth, and showed
that even a Catholic government had no
need to fear the threats of the papacy.
Rome had set great hopes upon France,
since Louis Napoleon's " plebiscites " had
been successfully carried out with the help
of the clergy. But the Curia found France
a prudent friend, not to be caught of£ her
guard. The diplomatic skill of Napoleon
III. was never seen to better advantage
than in his delimitation of the spheres
respectively assigned to the temporal and
the spiritual Powers. Even the Jesuits
were unable to fathom his intentions.
Hans von Zwiedineck-Sudenhorst
Hand
of Rome
SAVING THE COLOURS: THE GUARDS AT THE BATTLE OF INKERMAN IN IS54
From the painting by Robert Gibb. R.S.A.. by penuission of Mr. E. Erucc-Low
TO FACE PAGE 4 97 5
SCONSQUDMlCNfPOttCRS
THE UNITED KINGDOM IN
THE MID-VICTORIAN ERA
By Arthur D.
•yHE fall of Sir Robert Peel, in 1846, had
■*■ been effected almost at the moment
when the Duke of Wellington was persuad-
ing the House of Lords to swallow the
repeal of the Corn Laws, the crowning
accomplishment of Peel's career. It
was achieved by a combination of angry
Protectionists and angry Irishmen, who
united to throw out a government
measure for coercion in Ireland. The
potato famine had definitely completed
the conversion of both Peel and the
Whigs to the doctrines of the Anti-
Corn Law League, and was followed by
earnest efforts for the relief of distress.
But distress itself had, as usual, in-
tensified discontent, generating agrarian
outrages, and relief and coercion were
proffered simultaneously. The uncon-
verted chiefs of what had been Peel's party
saw their opportunity ; and the adverse vote
brought about Peel's resignation. Lord
John Russell formed a Whig Ministry, with
Palmerston as Foreign Secretary — which
position he had occupied in Melbourne's
time — and the Peelites, regarding the
question of Free Trade as of primary im-
r^ . » •. • portance, gave the Govern-
Oreat Britain ^ , ° , , ,
. . Y ment a support which
, „ ... secured its continuity. The
of Revolutions . , r
improvement m the con-
dition of the working classes, coupled with
the British inclination to distrust the
political efficacy of syllogisms expressed in
terms of physical force, made Great Britain
almost the only European country where
nothing revolutionary took place in the year
of revolutions, 1848. The monster petition
of the Chartists was its most alarming event.
Innes, M.A.
The death of O'Connell, however, in the
previous year had deprived the Irish of a
leader who had always set his face against
the methods of violence, and Ireland did
not escape without an abortive insi\rrection
headed by Smith O'Brien. The leaders were
taken, condemned to death for high treason,
liad their sentences commuted to trans-
, . _ , , portation, and were subse-
Lord Palmerston ^ , , j 1
. quentiy pardoned — more
V • f\tf than one of those *asso-
Foreign Office ' ■ , 1 •,, ^.i
ciated with the movement
achieved distinction in later years in the
political service of the British Empire.
Palmerston's activities at the Foreign
Office, however, were a source of con-
siderable disquietude at this period. Forty
years of parliamentary life, many of them
passed in office, first as a Tory, later as a
Canningite, and finally as a Whig, had not
produced in that persistently youthful
statesman any inclination in favour of the
further democratisation of the British
Constitution, or of what in his younger
days would have been called Jacobinism
abroad ; but he was a convinced advocate
of freedom as he understood it and as
Canning had understood it. He saw in
revolutionary movements a disease engen-
dered by despotic systems of government ;
and being alive to the European ferment,
he took upon himself to warn the despotic
governments that they would do well to
apply the remedy of constitutionalism
before the disease became dangerous.
The despotic governments, recognising
no difference between the disease itself and
the remedy, held him guilty not only of
officiousness in tendering advice which
4975
QUEEN VICTORIA AND THE PRINCE CONSORT
From the paintiiit; by Sir Edwin Landscur. R.A.
^
THE ROYAL VISIT TO IRELAND IN 1^4;!: THE' FLEET IN CORK HARBOUR
4976
THE UNITED KINGDOM IN THE MID-VICTORIAN ERA
was unasked, but of fomenting revolution in
their dominions, and were not unnaturally
resentful, although, as a matter of fact,
they would have profited
greatly by paying heed to
his well-meant warnings.
The attacks in Parlia-
ment on his " meddling "
policy were successfully
met in 1849, <^^^ public
opinion endorsed his view
that Britain ought to
make her opinions felt in
foreign countries — that,
in fact, she would not be
adequately discharging
the responsibilities of her
great position in the world
unless she did so. Never-
theless, his methods were
irritating not only to
foreign potentates, but to
his own sovereign, who
frequently found that
her Foreign Minister was
committing the
Government without
her knowledge to de-
clarations which she
cordd only endorse
because it would have
been impossible to
retract them with
dignity, his colleagues
being consulted as
little as herself.
In 1850 the queen
sent a memorandum
to Russell, requiring
that she should be
kept adequately in-
formed before, not
after, the event, of
any steps which the
Foreign Minister in-
tended to take. The
immediate cause of
the memorandum
was connected with
Palmerston's attitude
on the Schleswig-
Holstein question, re-
garding which she and
her husband, Prince
Albert, favoured the
German view, to
which Palmerston
LORD JOHN RUSSELL
He was twice Prime Minister, first in 1846 on
the formation of a Whig Ministry following
the defeat of Peel, and again in ISiiS, on the
death of Lord Palmerston. He was created
Earl Russell in 1861, and he died in 1878.
of the Foreign Minister's high-handed
methods was the " Don Pacifico " affair.
Don Pacifico was a Jew from Gibraltar, a
British subject, residing
in Greece, whose house
and property were
damaged in a riot. Pal-
merston took up his
claim for compensation
as an international in-
stead of a personal affair,
sent the fleet to the
Pirc-elis, the harbour of
Athens, and seized Greek
merchant vessels. Russia
adopted a threatening
attitude, to which Pal-
merston had no disposi-
tion to yield. The French
Republic, under the presi-
dency of Louis Napoleon,
was indignant at the
action of Great Britain,
but still more indignant at
being ignored by Russia.
Palmerston ac-
cepted French media-
tion — not arbitra-
tion ; there were
further complica-
tions, in whicR the
French thought that
Albion was showing
her historic perfidy ;
but the whole affait
was too trivial to
involve two great
nations in a war over
mere diplomatic pro-
prieties, and the
quarrel was patched
up. This incident
was the inciting cause
.of a formal attack on
Palmerston's foreign
policy, which resulted
in a vote ot censure
in the Upper Cham-
ber, in consequence
of which a resolution
of confidence was
introduced in the
Commons. Peel him-
self was ( n the s'de of
the Opposition, but
Palmerston vindi-
cated his principles in
THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD
Eminent as statesman and novelist, Benjamin Disraeli,
afterwards Lord Beaconsfield, made a great reputation j ,• i l
was opposed. Another in the political world, though his maiden speech in the aWOUdertul SpCCCh
„■ J . -11 J. i.- House of Commons was greeted with derisive laughter. .i << „• ,:„ T>r^r^^„,,^
incident illustrative He twice held the hi|h office of Prime Minister, the CIVIS RomanUb
4977
497S
THE UNITED KINGDOM IN THE MID-VICTORIAN ERA
sum " speech — which carried the House
and the country triumphantly with him.
The year also witnessed one of those
" No Popery" waves of excitement which
periodically break upon England. The
Tractarian movement had produced in the
mind of the Pope the recurrent delusion
that the heretical island was on the verge
of conversion. He issued a Bull establishing
a Roman hierarchy in England, with
territorial titles, an assumption of authority
contravening the constitutional principle
of the royal supremacy. In response to the
popular excitement created, the Govern-
ment introduced the " Ecclesiastical
letter till its repeal twenty years later.
The queen's memorandum in the pre-
vious November, somewhat to the public
surprise, had not been followed by Palmers-
ton's resignation ; apparently he had
accepted the rebuke in good pai't, and
promised to consult the queen's wishes.
But his practice remained unaltered. The
arrival in England of the Hungarian
leader, Kossuth, was the occasion of a dis-
play of sympathy wliich was at best a
breach of international etiquette, Kossuth
being technically a rebel. At the moment
when Palmerston was being taken to task
for neglect of his promise to pay proper
LORD ABERDEEN b lAi.IOUS COALITION MINISTRY
On the defeat of the Derby government in December, l!;.rJ, Lord Aberdeen formed a coalition Ministry of Wliig-s and
Peelites with Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Russell at the Foreign and Palmerston at the Home Officei
From the paintint; by Sir John Gilbert, R.A. Photo by Walker
Titles " Bill, which was naturally opposed
by the Roman Catholics and also by all
who saw in it an interference with the
principle of religious liberty. The Govern-
ment, feeling its position to be somewhat
precarious, took advantage of its own
defeat on a snap vote — .a symptom of the
now growing demand for further electoral
reform — -to resign, and thereby to demon-
strate the impossibility of any other
working administration being constructed.
It resumed office in February, 185 1, and
carried the Bill in a modified form, but
the Act remained practically a dead
atteffition to the queen's wishes in this
affair, Louis Napoleon in France carried
out the coup d'etat which he had been
preparing, and established himself as a
dictator. Palmerston persuaded himself
that the British Foreign Minister could
express his personal approval in a conver-
sation with the French ambassador with-
out committing the Cabinet, the Crown,
or the country. The other parties concerned
did not accept that view, and Palmerston's
resignation was demanded. But he had
hardly been dismissed when he got his
" tit-for-tat with John Russell," as he
4979
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
expressed it. Napoleon's coup d'etat
had its alarming side for Great Britain,
a.s a probable prelude to an aggressive
French policy, of which the Napoleonic
tradition would make England the primary
object of hos-
tility, A Bill was
accordingly in-
troduced for the
reorganisation of
the militia. The
scheme proposed
was not felt to
be satisfactory ;
Palmerston
headed the at-
tack, the Ministry
were defeated,
and the Govern-
ment was under-
taken by the
Conservative
chief, Lord
Derby, with Dis-
raeli as his Chan-
cellor of the
Exchequer and
Leader of the
House of Com-
mons, in Feb-
ruary, 1852. The
most notable
of the actual
achievements of
the Russell ad-
ministration had
been the applica-
tion in Australia,
by an Act of 1850,
of those prin-
ciples of colonial
converted in 1852 was an exploded
antediluvian fallacy. In the interval, the
scanty handful of its opponents were but
feeble voices crying in the wilderness
The theory of Protection being so effec-
tively scotched as
to be apparently
killed, the ex-
ProtectionistJ-
— who had main-
tained the old
doctrine not from
the manufactur-
ing, but from the
agrarian point of
view — fell back
on the principle
that the landed
interest, which
the old system
had protected,
required relief
now that the
protection was
withdrawn ; and
to this end Dis-
raeli constructed
his Budget. But
his extremely in-
genious redistri-
bution of the
burden of taxa-
tion failed to
attract the
approval of
economists of
other schools, or
THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON
Th2 long and illustrious life of the Duke of Wellington came to an end r ,1 • .
in 1S52, the hero of Waterloo passing peacefully away on September ^^ xnOSe iniereSLS
14th, in his arm-chair at Walmer. In the above picture the body of wllicll did UOt
the distinguished general, who was laid to rest with great pomp flgcxj-g the land
in St. Paul's Cathedral, is seen lying in state at Chelsea Hospital, j. l v A +
government which had been inaugurated
by the Canadian Act of Reunion. The
new Ministry carried a new Militia
Bill and then dissolved, apparently with
a view to taking the sense of the country
on the Free Trade policy which had
brought the Liberals into office.
The Ministerialists, however, did not
definitely commit themselves to a Pro-
tectionist programme, and the question
was brought to a direct issue in the
Commons by a resolution affirming the
principle of Free Trade, which, in amended
form, was accepted and carried by an over-
whelming majority. Fifty years were to
pass before the discovery that the revolu-
tionary economic doctrine of 1846 to which
the country declared itself definitely
4980
their expense. The Budget debate marked
conspicuously the opening of the long
personal rivalry between its proposer,
Disraeli, and its strongest critic, William
Ewart Gladstone. The Government was
defeated, and resigned in December, 1852.
The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, which had
been a barrier between Whigs and Peelites,
had already vanished into hmbo, and the
Ministry which now took office was formed
by a coalition of those two parties. The
Peelite, Lord Aberdeen, was its head,
Gladstone its Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Russell was at the Foreign Office, and
Palm«rston Home Secretary.
Before the fall of the Conservatives, a
great figure had passed from the stage.
A little more than two years after his
THE UNITED KINGDOM IN THE MID-VICTORIAN ERA
closest political associate, Sir Robert Peel,
the " Iron Duke " died in September, at
the age of eighty-three. Forty years before,
he had proved himself the greatest
captain in Europe save
one ; and his, in the eyes
of Europe, had been the
triumph of vanquishing
that one. To him more
than to anyone else
France owed it that she
had been generously
treated when the war
was ended ; his was prob-
ably the most decisively
moderating influence
among the statesmen
whose task it was to
restore order in Europe.
But while he possessed
high qualities of states-
manship, they were not
those adapted to parlia-
sincerity,' his transparent honesty, and
his conspicuous moral courage, made him
a unique figure, and fully justified the
universal popularity which came to him
-tardily enough, and the
genuine passion of mourn-
ing with which the whole
nation received the tid-
ings of his death. Wel-
Imgton had overthrown
the first Napoleon.
Eleven weeks after he had
breathed his last, " the
nephew of his uncle "
was proclaimed Emperor
of the French with the
title of Napoleon III. The
famous coalition Ministry
opened its career with
the first of the brilliant
series of Gladstone Bud-
gets, introduced in a
speech which revealed
mentary government. As the defender of sebastopol the hitherto unsuspected
a VriniQfpr hp was; a General Todleben, a distinguished Russian x ^ thnf ficrnrpc; ran ho
a xUiniSter ne was a soldier and mUitary engineer, held Sebastopol I^" lUat ngUlCS Can tX
failure ; as a counsellor against the British, displaying great resource made fascinating. But
and energy until he was severely wounded.
his judgment always
carried very great weight. His unqualified
patriotism, his complete subordination of
personal interests to what he conceived
to be the welfare of the state, his perfect
even the charm of the
Budget was soon to be overshadowed by
the war clouds in the East. So far a* the
preliminaries of the Crimean war are con-
cerned with French and Russian rivalries
BURIAL OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON : THE FUNERAL CAR ARRIVING AT ST. PAUL'S
4981
QUEEN VICTORIA AS SHE
and with matters outside British interests,
they will be dealt with in the chapter
following. Here we observe that in the
beginning of 1853 the Tsar was assuming
a threatening attitude towards the Porte
On the hypothesis that Russia was the
protector of the Greek Church Christians
in the Turkish dominions; and that France,
^982
APPEARED IN THE YEAR 1852
in the character of protector of the Latin
Christians, regarded the Russian attitude
as merely a pretext for absorbing the
Danube states. A similar view was en-
tertained in England, where the Tsar had
already made suggestions regarding the
ultimate partition of the Turkish Empire,
which he regarded as practically inevitable
THE UNITED KINGDOM IN THE MID- VICTORIAN ERA
England, however, and Palmerston in
particular, looked upon the maintenance
of the independence of Turkey as a
necessity, if for no other reason because
Russian expansion in the direction either
of India or of the Mediterranean appeared
exceedingly dangerous to the interests of
Great Britain. It may be remembered that
the Afghan war of 1839 ^^^.d been the out-
come of Persian aggressions which were uni-
versally regarded as prompted \\y Russia.
Russia maintained her claim to protect
the Christians in the Danube provinces ;
Turkey declined her demand for
Napoleon would not venture on that
appeal single-handed. The temper of the
country, however, was clearly in favour
of Palmerston's views, and in July the
French and l^ritish fleets were despatched
to Besika Bay. The " Vienna Note," a
proposal formulated by the Powers in
conference at Vienna, was amended by
Turkey and rejected by Russia in August.
Everywhere popular feeling was rising ;
an anti-Christian emeute was feared in
Constantinople, and the French and
British fleets were ordered to the Dar-
danelles in October, ostensibly to protect
THE QUEEN REVIEWING THE SCOTS GUARDS ON THEIR DEPARTURE FOR THE CRIMEA IN 1851
The aggression of Russia, involved by her claim of 1853 to be protector of the Orthodox Greek Christians in the
fiirkish dominions, %as naturally resented by Turkey. Both Britain and France took the side of the latter, and on
March 27th, 1854, declared war on Russia, whence followed all the miseries and suffering of the Crimean war.
guarantees ; the rest of the Powers
upheld Turkey. Negotiations faiUng,
Russia occupied the provinces in July
as a proceeding wairanted by her treaty
rights. The Powers might, by the exer-
cise of joint pressure, have compelled
Russia to retire, but a mere evacuation
would not have satisfied either Napoleon
or Palmerston. Aberdeen, on the other
hand, allowed llis aversion to war to be
so obvious that the Tsar probably felt
quite satisfied that Britain would not
join France in an appeal to arms, and that
the Christians. Before the close of the
month Turkey declared war on Russia,
to which the Tsar replied by declaring
that he would not take the offensive.
The Turks crossed the Danube, and fight-
ing began. But when a Russian squadron
feil upon some Turkish ships in the harbour
of Sinope and destroyed them on September
30th, the action was regarded as proving
the insincerity of the Tsar's declarations.
Aberdeen found himself obliged to consent
to the occupation of the Black Sea by the
allied fleets on December 27th. The
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4985
NAVAL BRIGADE AT SEBASTOPOL: LORD RAGLAN VIEWING THE STORMING OF THE REDAN
Fron) the picture by K. Caton Woodville, by permisbion of iMessrs. Graves &: Cc.
498(^
THE UNITED KINGDOM IN THE MID-VICTORIAN ERA
precipitate action of France and Britain in
presenting a joint note demanding the
evacuation of the Danube provinces gave
Austria an excuse for leaving them to
act independently ; and on March 27th,
1854, the two Western Powers declared
war on Russia and proceeded to a formal
alliance with the Turks, who in the mean-
time had more than held their own on land.
Troops were despatched to co-operate
with the Turks, and it soon became
evident that the Russians would have no
chance of effecting a successful invasion ;
before the end of July it was clear that
they would be obliged to evacuate the
Provinces. But before that time instruc-
tions had already been sent for the invasion
of the Crim.ea and the seizure of Sebastopol.
But the invasion could
not be . carried out till
September ; and by that
time, Sebastopol had
been placed in a com-
paratively thorough state
of defence by the en-
gineering skill of Todle-
ben. Its capture by a
coup de main was now
extremely improbable.
The British and French
forces disembarked at
Eupatoria, and found a
Russian army under Men-
schikoff lying between
them and Sebastopol.
The battle of the Alma,
in which the brunt of the
fighting was borne by the
British, left the allies
masters of the field.
Menschikoff withdrew his
main foi^ce not to Sebas-
topol but to the interior,
of the dying French general, St. Arnaud,
prevented an immediate assault from
being attempted — it was ascertained later
that the attempt at that moment would
probably have been successful — and the
allies settled down to _,a siege. Their
numbers were not sufficient
The Charge ^^^, ^ complete investment,
and the communications be-
tween Menschikoff and the
garrison remained open. The British
drew their supplies from the port of
Balaclava, and Menschikoff now en-
deavoured to effect its capture. The
movement, however, was repulsed, mainly
by the magnificent charge of the Heavy
In the
"Valley of
Death"
^^^^K^l^l
■ . ' \C^'Sk
:
n
Lk^^
1 1
- :'^^'^^^^
m
'^mskm^'l: ]
rT^"
LORD RAGLAN
Commander-in-chief of tiie British forces in
the Crimea, his conduct of the war was severely
condemned both by the public and the Press.
He died from dysentery on June -Sth, 1853.
The opposition
of the Heavy
Brigade
Brigade against a column of five times their
own numbers ; but that splendid action
was eclipsed in the popular mind by one
of the most desperate, and, from a military
point of view, most futile, deeds of valour
on record, the charge of the Six Hundred.
Through the misinterpretation
of an order, the Light Brigade
hurled itself through a terrific
storm of shot and she'l upon a
Russian battery, captured it, and xhen,
because there was nothing else to be done,
relinquished it, leaving more than two-
thirds of their number in the " Valley of
Death." Nothing whatever was gamed
of a calculable kind. Yet it was one
of those deeds which have a moral value
past all calculation, like the equally futile
defence of Thermopykc.
Ten days later an
attempt was made upon
the British position before
Sebastopol at Inkerman.
The attack was made by
a large Russian force in
the midst of a fog so
thick that none knew
what was going on except
close at hand. Concerted
action was impossible,
and men battled desper-
ately as best they could
m small groups. The fight
was fought by the men
virtually without com-
mandeis, and, in spite of
immensely superior num-
bers, the Russians were
triumphantly repulsed.
But after Inkerman, the
design, then in contem-
plation, of an immediate
assault on Sebastopol was abandoned.
And then the Crimean winter began. A
winter siege had not been in the pro-
gramme when the expedition was planned ;
the arrangements were disastrously inade-
quate, and their inadequacy was increased
by the destruction in a gale of the stores
which had reached Balaclava but had not
been disembarked ; while the iniquities of
army contractors broke all previous records.
The four winter months killed far more
of the troops than the Russians were
responsible for. The blame lay not at all
with the officers on the spot, and only in a
limited degree with the Government, but
popular indignation' compelled the retire-
ment of Aberdeen ; and Palmerston, the
4987
Hi
4988
4989
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
man in whom the confidence of the country
had not been shaken, became Prime
Minister in February, 1855. The lesson of
the early administrative blunders had been
learnt, and a great improvement was soon
apparent. The immense and unprece-
dented services of the staff of nurses
organised under Florence Nightingale, who
had been at work since Novem-
-. . ber, mark an epoch in the history
poc in ^^ civilised warfare. Negotia-
tions were renewed at Vienna;
but while agreement might have been
reached on two of the four proposals put
forward by Austria, Russia was obdurate
on a third, and the belligerent allies were
dissatisfied with the fourth.
The negotiations broke down, and Austria
again found excuse in the attitude of the
French and British for declining to join
them in an offensive alliance — in their eyes
a breach of faith on her part. In May,
however, Sardinia joined' the allies, and
the British share in the operations at
Sebastopol became comparatively re-
stricted, while the British fleets found
little of consequence to do. It was
not till September 8th that Sebastopol
fell, an event secured by the French
capture of the Malakoff.
Napoleon was now satisfied with the
personal security his imperial position
had acquired from the war ; the friend-
ship of the new Tsar, Alexander II. —
Nicholas had died in March — was of
more importance to him, if not to France,
than the repression of Russia. Austria
cared only to have her own Balkan in-
terests safeguarded, and it was with no
little difficulty that the British were able
to secure adequate checks on Russian
aggression. The occasion was used for a
fresh settlement of those maritime regula-
tions which had been the cause of the
" Armed Neutrality " at the close of the
last century. Privateering, the one weapon
which hostile Powers had been able to
wield effectively against Great
Britain, was abolished ; and,
p . . on the other hand, it was con-
cr ng ^g^ig^ ^j^g^^ ^j^^ neutral flag
should cover all goods but contraband of
war, and that even on belligerent vessels
neutral goods should not be liable to
capture, in March, 1856.
The war in the Crimea had necessitated
the withdrawal of British regiments from
India, where, on the other hand, Dal-
housie's annexations had involved an in-
4990
crease in the Sepoy army. A quarrel with
Persia demanded an expedition to that
country from India at the end of 1856,
owing to the seizure of Herat by Persia —
a movement attributed, as a matter of
course, to Russian instigation. No diffi-
culty was found in the military operations,
which soon resulted in a treaty by which
Persia resigned Herat and all claims on
Afghan territory ; but the war must be
included among the minor circumstances
which encouraged the outbreak of the
great Sepoy revolt of 1857.
About the same time a war with China
was brought about by what is known as
the "Arrow" incident. The Arrow was
a Chinese vessel which had been sailing
under the British flag, and was continuing
to do so though the year during which she
was authorised to do so had just elapsed.
The Chinese authorities, having no know-
ledge of this lapse, nevertheless seized the
crew in Canton harbour on the hypothesis
that there were persons " wanted " for
piracy among its number. Reparation was
demanded and refused, the British fleet was
called into play, and the incident developed
„ . . , definitely into a war. The
™ "* * British Government acted on
. . ^. . the principle that the punctilios
of Western diplomacy are m-
variably looked upon by Orientals as signs
of weakness which invite defiance ; high-
handed methods, however, equally in-
variably offend the moral ideals of a large
section of the British people, and the
Government was vigorously attacked by
the Liberals and Peelites who had parted
from the Ministry. But an appeal to the
country gave Palmerston a decisive ma-
jority in April, 1857. The war was brought
to a conclusion in the course of 1858.
Almost the first news, which came on
the new Parliament as a bolt from the
blue, was that of the great outbreak in
India, the story of which has been dealt
with in the earlier section of this work
devoted to Indian history. The Mutiny
was inaugurated by the rising of the-
Sepoys at Mirat on May loth, 1857. Delhi
was seized in the name of a restored Mogul
Empire ; a British force concentrated on
the famous Ridge, which it occupied for the,
siege of the great city, held by forces-
enormously superior in point of numbers.
Above Allahabad, the whole Ganges
basin was in the hands of the mutineers,
and the British were soon shut up in Cawn-
pore or the Lucknow Residency, with the
4991
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
exception of the force on the ridge before
Delhi and of a considerable number who
took refuge at Agra. The loyalty and dip-
lomacy of Sindhia and his minister Dinkar
Rao restrained the Gwalior army from
marching to Delhi. In September, Delhi
was stormed and Lucknow was reinforced
by the operations of Havelock and Out ram.
From that time, though Sindhia was
no longer able to hold back the Gwalior
regiments, the tide turned. Troops
were arriving from England ; a contin-
gent on its w^ay to the Chinese war
was detained for the more serious affair.
In November, Sir Colin Campbell relieved
the defenders of the Lucknow Residency ;
ni the spring, the British armies were
amend the conspiracy laws; but the.
French had assumed an attitude of such
amazing and bombastic truculence that
the Conspiracy to Murder Bill was regarded
as a pusillanimous submission to foreign
insolence — a curious charge against the Min-
ister who was accustomed to being himself
accused of arrogance rather than submis-
siveness in foreign affairs, mainly to be
explained by the tenacious pride with which
the nation clung to its claim of oftering
an asylum to refugees from oppression.
The Bill was defeated, the Government
resigned, and again Lord Derby took
office, though his party was in a minority
in the House of Commons. Under such
circumstances, the Ministry had no choice
QUEEN VICTORIA RECEIVING HEROES OF
From tlic paintinj^ by Si
everywhere triumphant, and in the summer
the last efforts of the revolt were crushed.
The Mutiny brought home to the British
mind the necessity for terminating the
unique and anomalous dual control, by the
East India Company and Parliament, of
the government of India. It was time that
the Crown should assume the exclusive
responsibility, and in February, 1858,
Palmerston brought in a Bill for that
purpose. By a curious accident, he was
turned out of office before the Bill could be
passed. An Italian named Orsini flung
bombs under the carriage of Napoleon in
January ; it turned out that the plot had
been hatched and the bombs manufactured
in England. The Government proposed to
4992
THE CRIMEA AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE
r John Gilbert, R.A.
but to seek for compromises with the
Opposition. Lord Derby's India Bill,
when introduced, was obviously not
destined to pass, and the Act which finall}'
ended the career of the East India Com-
pany, and transferred the Indian govern-
ment to the Crown, was virtually the work
of all parties combining to arrive at a
settlement irrespective of party. Lord
Canning, the Governor-General, who had
remained at the helm throughout the
Mutiny, inaugurated the new regime as the
first Viceroy. In the same summer, the
Lords were persuaded to pass a Bill
removing the political disabilities under
which the Jews still laboured, a principle
repeatedly approved by the Commons
THE OPERA
LONDON
THE RULERS OF BRITAIN AND OF FRANCE
Arising: out of their common interests in the war against Russia, a kindly feeling sprang up between Britain and
France, the rulers of the two countries exchanging visits of friendship. On April 16th, 1S.?5, the Emperor
Napoleon III. and the Empress Eugc'nie arrived in England, visiting Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, and in
the above picture they are shown with the Queen and the Prince Consort at the Royal Italian Opera on April 1 )th.
QUEEN VICTORIA AND THE PRINCE CONSORT VISITING THE TUILERIES
In the August following the visit of the French Emperor and Empress to England, Queen Victoria and the Prince
Consort visited France. In this picture the British queen and her husband are seen at the Tuilenes, the tormer
in the foreground on the arm of Napoleon with Prince Albert and the Empress Eugenie immediately behind.
THE ENTENTE CORDIALE IN THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY
4993
QUEEN VICTORIA DISTRIBUTING THE CRIMEAN MEDALS AT THE HORSE GUARDS
The first distribution of V.C. medals is represented in the above picture, this event taking place on May ISth, ls56 ;
the queen is shown in the act of presenting a medal to Sir Thomas Troubridge, who had lost both his feet in action.
and rejected by the Peers during the
preceding twenty-five years. Electoral
Reform — that is, extension of the fran-
chise — was a subject in which the
electorate and the unenfranchised masses
were more interested than Ministers.
Russell and a considerable section of
the Liberals were becoming more strongly
disposed in that 'direction, but the
Palmerstonians preferred to keep the
question shelved as long as possible.
Disraeli, however, now saw a possibility of
securing success to the conservative policy
by a measure professedly democratic, but
safeguarded by devices which, in the eyes
of the Liberals, were intended to secure
political preponderance for conservative
influences. Defeated on a resolution intro-
duced by Russell, Lord Derby appealed to
the country ; the party returned some-
what strengthened in numbers, but still in
a minority, and the minority gave way
to a new Palmerston administration, with
Russell at the Foreign Office, the two
; 1 -' r.
THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT VISITING BROMPTON HOSPITAL AT CHATHAM. IN l^r>rt
4994
THE UNITED KINGDOM IN THE MID-VICTORIAN ERA
liberal leaders having recognised the need
of co-operation. Gladstone returned to
the Exchequer.
Palmerston remained at the head of the
government till his death in 1865. It was
inevitable that a Franchise BiU should be
introduced, but it aroused no enthusiasm
in Parliament or in the country, and
•'EASTWARD HO!" THE DEPARTURE OF BRITISH TROOPS FOR INDIA
When the Indian Mutiny broke out in 1S57, the British army in India was not sufficiently
strong adequately to cope with the rising, and reinforcements were speedily despatched
from England. Farewell scenes are graphically represented in the above picture.
From the painting by Hcnrj- O'Neill, A.R.A.
Russell, who introduced it, found an
excuse for its withdrawal, after which, by
common consent, reform was shelved for
the lifetime of the Prime Minister. There
was little legislation during Palmerston's
supremacy, and domestic interest centred
mainly in the systematic extension of
Free Trade principles, in the Budgets, and
in the commercial treaty with France,
negotiated by Richard Cobden, which
was ratified in i860.
The Budget of that year reduced the
number of articles subject to customs
duties from 419 to 48, the primary object
being the removal of preferential and pro-
tective duties. Financial questions, how-
ever, narrowly
missed producing
a serious constitu-
tional crisis. It
was proposed in
1859 to remove
the tax upon
paper. Being in-
troduced in a Bill
separate from the
Budget, the Lords
claimed the right
of rejecting the
proposal. The
Commons claimed
that . the Lords
could not reject
separately any
part of the
general financial
scheme. The
action of the
Lords in rejecting
the Bill was in
accordance with
the law, but not
with the custom
of the Constitu-
tion. The crisis
was averted,
partly by a series
of resolutions in,
the Commons,
which pointed to
the inclusion of
such proposals in
the Budget as
security against
the repetition of
such action by the
Lords, and partly
by the inclusion of
the particular pro-
posal in the Budget of the following year.
These years, however, were marked by
comphcations in the affairs of other
nations which made the task of steering
Great Britain successfully a difficult and
delicate one. The sympathies of the country
and of the Government were with the
Italians in their struggle for hberty from
4f)95
499^.
490/
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the Austrian yoke, with Poland in her
resistance to Russia, with Denmark in her
hopeless contest with Prussia and Austria
over Schleswig-Holstein. In the first case,
the moral support of Great Britain was of
considerable value to Victor Emmanuel ;
in the other two, the action of the Govern-
ment had the unfortunate appearance of
exciting an expectation of material sup-
port which they lacked the courage to
carry into action.
But it was the civil war in America which
most seriously threatened to involve this
country. There were two grave causes of
system the more easily because it had no
use for slave-labour itself, and became
determined to abolish slavery. Hence the
Southern States asserted the right to
secede from a confederation which they
had entered voluntarily ; the North held
that the union was federal, indissoluble,
and that secession was rebellion.
In 1861, a group of the Southern States
formed themselves into a confederation
claiming independence, under their own
president, and the great struggle began.
The sympathies of the British were
sharply divided. Toryism had a fellow
QUEEN VICTORIA WITH PRINCE ALBERT AND THEIR CHILDREN
disagreement between the Northern and
the Southern States of the Union, which
issued in a third, the gravest of all. The
Northern States were manufacturing com-
munities, and determined to protect their
manufactures by the exclusion of foreign
competition. The Southern States, whose
products were not exposed to competition,
objected to the protectionist policy which
raised prices for the consumer. The
Southern States hved by the production
of crops cultivated by slave labour ; the
North was able to realise the iniquity of the
4998
feeling for the gentry of the South.
Liberalism held slavery in horror, yet the
general principles of political freedom
were on the side of the right of secession.
The Government was firm in its resolution
not to intervene, not to declare itself on
either side ; but it was obliged to com-
mit itself on the question whether the
Southerners were to be treated as lawful
belligerents or as rebels. The position
adopted was that the effective strength
of the Southern States made them de facto
belligerents, and that their recognition
m^ Jiiiiii -■'->"- ■ f
^"*t
w
c
X
H
J^»
g i
3 ^
<J 5
a
W 2
U (1.
2
5
><
CQ
Q
Q
U
H
H
<
4999
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
having been negligent of set purpose.
At the same time, greatly as the South
benefited by the resolute impartiality of
Great Britain, it felt itself hardly less
bitterly aggrieved thereby than the North,
since it appeared almost certain that British
as such implied no judgment on the merits
of the dispute ; on the other hand, the
time had not yet come when their claim
lor recognition as a separate nation could
be officially acknowledged. The justice
:ind impartiahty of this attitude proved
acceptable neither
to North nor to
South. In 1862
Great Britain was
iiU but compelled
to commence hos-
tilities by ,- the
action of the'
North in seizing
the persons of two
commissioners
from the South on
board a British
vessel, the Trent,
on which they had
embarked in the
neutral port of
Havanna. The
tardy recognition
of this violation of
international law
and the liberation
of the commis-
sioners averted
hostilities. Rela-
tions were, more-
over, perpetually
strained to a high
pitch of intensity
by, the action of
the Alabama and
other cruisers of
the same type in
the Confederate
service. These
were vessels con-
structed in British
dockyards, which
sailed from British
ports, professedly
on harmless voy-
ages, but with the
actual intent of political riots in hyde park
being handed over "^^e defeat of the Reform Bill in 1866 gave rise to a considerable amount of feeling in the
')t «;omp annnintpH country. A mass meeting in favour of reform was shut out of Hyde Park, and as a protest,
^^ „ the mob broke down the railings, "thereby convincing most of those who had hitherto
JpOl to l^yOn- been incredulous that the demand for the franchise was not a mere demagogic figment."
federate ofhcers.
who proceeded to employ them for the
destruction of the Federal mercantile
marine. Since the British Government
had failed to display sufficient vigilance in
detaining such craft, notably the Alabama,
they were regarded by the North as
5000
intervention would have decisively ter-
minated the war in favour of the Con-
federates. Nothing could have been more
creditable to the labouring population of
the United Kingdom than the dogged
determination with which they supported
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the Government, from the conviction that
the anti-slavery cause was the cause of
righteousness, in spite of
the terrible sufferings
entailed by the cotton
famine, resulting from
the Northern blockade of
the Southern ports. No
nobler example of self-
"restraint has been re-
corded than that of the
Lancashire operatives in
those cruel times ; nor
has the general public
ever displayed its free-
handed generosity more
wisely and more gener-
ously than in the efforts
then made for the relief
of the distress prevail-
ing. The war was
brought to an end with
the complete success of
the North, in the spring
of 1865. In the summer,
Parliament was dis-
solved, having sat for six years, but no
immediate effect was produced on the
That came with the death
octogenarian Premier in October.
LORD TENNYSON
Successor to Wordsworth as Poet-Laureate,
Tennyson remained until his death, in 1S92,
the supreme English poet, challenged only by
Browning, beside whom he sleeps in West-
minster Abbey. In 1SS4 he received a peerage.
Government.
of the
The democratic move-
ment, which had been
held in check 1 y
general consent until h s
demise, at once became
active. At the same lime,
Irish disconient assumed
a somewhat more
threatening shape, owin^
to the formation of the
" Fenian Brotherhood '
by the physical - force
party, whose strength lay
amongst the crowds of
emigrants who had been
driven to America, ar.d
had there been learning
practical lessons of war-
fare in the ranks of
Federal and Confederate
armies alike. The Fenians
set themselves to the
secret organisation of
armed rebellion ; and the
detection of the conspiracy and arrest of
its leaders revealed a state of affairs
IHE FENIAN OUTKAGHS ; AriACK ON THE PRISON VAN Al MANCHESTER
Discontent in Ir^and assumed a serious aspect towards the end of 1865, the formation of the " Fenian Brotherhood "
by the physical-force party indicating the length to which the agitators were prepared to go. The Fenians set
themselves to the secret organisation of armed rebe.lion, as well as opposing the authorities in England, the
above picture showing an armed attack on the Manchester prison van for the liberation of Fenian prisoners.
5002
THE GREAT EASTERN RECOVERING THE LOST ATLANTIC CABLE
The largest vessel in existence when built in London in 1S54-7. the Great Eastern, proved of great service in layings
the Atlantic cables in 1865, and recovered them, after being lost, in 1866; but the vessel was otherwise a failure.
the picture by R. Dudley
which induced the Government to go so
far as to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act
in Ireland. The Reform Act of 1832 had
aboUshed the old system of rotten boroughs,
which placed the control of half the
constituencies in the country in the
hands of a few families ; it
had given representation
to the great towns, which
had grown up mainly in the
course of the industrial
revolution ; it had applied
uniformity to the methods
of election ; it had trans-
ferred the preponderance
of political power from
the landed to the com-
mercial interests ; inci-
dentally it had trans-
formed the House of
Lords into a conserva-
tive organisation. But its
high franchise had still
completely excluded the
labouring classes from the
electorate. For a time,
those classes had shown
signs of a tendency to
'oelieve that the vote
would be a panacea for
all ills, but the wave of industrial pro-
sperity which attended the repeal of the
Corn Laws, and the development of Free
Trade, removed the more pressing incite-
ments to the demand for political power ;
•'^'.
and Gladstone, now a convinced advocate
of franchise extension, regarded it mainly
as a measure of justice to which it would
be wise to give effect while it was still not
the subject of political passion. At the
general election Disraeli had made it
■ plain that the question
would be forced to the
front ; and accordingly
Lord Russell, Palmerston's
successor in office, intro-
duced a Reform Bill. Its
:,i^-. moderation, however — it
'^ would have added less
than half a million voters
to the electorate — pre-
vented it from exciting
enthusiasm, and did not
prevent it from exciting
the determined opposition
of the anti - democratic
section
party
historic
lam."
ROBERT BROWNING
One of the two great poets of the Victorian
era. Browning enriched our literature with
poetic thought of enduring value, his crown-
ing achievement, the " Ring and the Book,"
appearing in 1869. In ls46 ^- --■■-■■■"'
of the Liberal
who formed the
" Cave of Adul-
The Adullamites,
in conjunction with the
Conservatives, all but
defeated the Bill on Ihe
second reading ; when
„r^ » ... -- he married
Elizabeth Barrett, also a poet of genms. they Carried an amend
ment against the Government in Com-
mittee, the Ministry resigned. For the
third time the Conservatives took office,
with Lord Derby as their chief and Disraeli
as their leader, while the party itself formed
5003
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
a minority in the House of Commons.
The defeat of the Liberal Bill roused a
fervour in the country which had not
attended its introduction. A mass meet-
ing in favour of reform was shut out of
Hyde Park, whereupon the mob broke
down the raihngs, thereby convincing
most of those who had hitherto been
incredulous that the demand
for the franchise was not a
The Reform
Bill
„ . . mere demagogic figment. The
impression thus produced was
confirmed by a series of demonstrations
during the? latter part of 1866, and a Re-
form Bill was announced as a part of
Disraeli's programme for 1867.
His first intention of proceeding by
resolution — that is, by obtaining the
assent of the House to a series of principles
on which the actual Bill was then to be
constructed — was abandoned ; the Cabinet
was split on the moderate Bill which
Disraeli then proposed to introduce, and
the secession of Lord Cranborne (after-
wards Lord Salisbury) and others decided
Disraeli to adopt a much more audacious
scheme which would capture support from
the Opposition. He had hoped to be
able to introduce sundry " fancy fran-
chises," and other securities to prevent a
complete subversion of the balance of
])olitical power, but it soon became clear
that if the Bill was to pass the Govern-
ment would have to accede with very little
reservation to the amendments demanded
by the Liberals. The result was that in
the boroughs the franchise was granted
to all householders and to ten-pound
lodgers, with a twelve-pound occupation
franchise in the counties ; the " fancy
franchises " disappeared. The Act, in-
deed, went very much further than the
Liberal leaders had proposed to go in their
own Bill ; it definitely transformed the
House of Commons into a democratic
body, though the change had still to be
completed by the assimilation of the
_. ,. county franchise to that of the
Uisraeli at , ■ 1 t-i
„ . boroughs. 1 he same year was
f h' P rendered notable in the colonial
history of the Empire by the
British North America Act, which even-
tually united the British Colonies in
North America, with the exception of
Newfoundland, in the federation which
bears the name of the Dominion of
Canada. The condikct of King Theodore
of Abyssinia, who thought himself justified
in seizing a number of British subjects,
5004
confining them at Magdala, and refusing
to pay any attention to representations
demanding their liberation, necessitated
the completely successful Abyssinian ex-
pedition, under the command of Lord
Napier, in the spring of the following
year, 1868. By this time Lord Derby had
withdrawn, leaving Disraeli, long the actual
chief of the party, as its avowed head.
Renewed Fenian disturbances empha-
sised the unsatisfactory condition of Ire--
land, which was destined to occupy an
exceedingly prominent position in the
domestic politics of the succeeding period.
In June it was clear that the Ministry was
practically powerless in the face of the
Opposition, and in the autumn Disraeli
appealed to the new electorate. The result
was that the first democratic Parliament
of the United Kingdom returned the
Liberals to power under Gladstone's
leadership, with a decisive majority. In
English history the inauguration of de-
mocracy forms an epoch, which we must
respect for clearness sake as a dividing
line ; but as the dividing line in Conti-
nental history is drawn by the German
- overthrow of France and the
I ^. .i^*"! . establishment of the German
Intellectual t- • j j.\ r> ■
„ ^ Empire under the Prussian
Movements , ^ i .
hegemony, we may here note
that Great Britain abstained from taking
any active part in those important events,
industrial movements are dealt with in
a separate section. But in the intellec-
tual movement of the period now under
review we have to note the succession to
Wordsworth as Poet Laureate of Alfred
Tennyson, who held his supreme position
unchallenged for the rest of his life, save
in the eyes of those who recognised a
still mightier genius in Robert Browning,
whose crowning achievement, the " Ring
and the Book," appeared in 1869. But
the world at large was more deeply affected
by another inffuence which had its birth
in England. Simultaneously, Charles
Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace de-
veloped their conception, which will al-
ways be associated with the name of the
former, of the evolution of species. That
conception filled the minds of the orthodox
with alarm, and called for an almost
fundamental readjustment of ideas on the
relations between " Nature, Man, and
God," which a later generation has found
to be in nowise subversive of the essential
doctrines of Christianity.
Arthur D. Innes
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
THE
CONSOLIDA-
TION OF
ITHE POWERS II
TURKEY AFTER THE CRIMEAN WAR
ADJUSTMENT OF THE EASTERN QUESTION
'T'HE year of revolutions, 1848, which
^ shook Western Europe with its con-
ceptions of freedom, had left Turkey almost
untouched. Shekib Effendi held a formal
conference with Pope Pius IX., in
Rome in 1848, under commission from the
Sultan, who would have been glad to
hand over to the Pope the protectorate
of the CathoUcs in the East ; the Holy
Father had sent out the Archbishop
Ferrieri with an appeal to the Oriental
communities, which, however, did not end
in that union which the Porte and the
Pope had hoped for.
The revolt of the Boyars and of the
Polish fugitives in Moldavia and Wallachia
speedily resulted in the strengthening
of the hospodar Michael Sturdza, and
in the appointment of Kantakuzen in
place of Bibeskos. The Hungarian rising,
on which the Porte had staked its hopes
for the infliction of a blow on Austria,
came to nothing, on the capitu-
ofthc lation of Vilagos. On the other
^ ^. ,. hand, the Sultan, encouraged
Catholics ^ .u t -o ?■ \
by the presence of a British
fleet in the Dardanelles, declined to
hand over the Hungarian fugitives.
Austria and Hungary thereupon
avenged themselves by taking advantage
of a claim for damages which France had
now set up. Two parties, the Cathohcs
and the Greeks, were quarrelling about the
Holy Places in Palestine. The powers
protecting the Catholics were invariably
France or the Pope, while the Greeks had
been under a Russian protectorate since
1720. It was to deliver these Holy
Places from the hands of the Moslems
that the Crusades had been undertaken.
Saladin had permitted the Latin clergy
to perform service in the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre in 1187, while Robert of
Anjou had purchased the Holy Places
from the caliph in 1342.
After the conquest of the Holy City by
Sultan Selim, 1517, the Georgians secured
part of Golgotha, all the other remaining
places being reserved expressly to the Sultan
in 1558. The title was further confiimed by
the capitulations of France with the Sul-
tans in 1535, 1621, 1629, and 1740. Violent
outbreaks of jealousy took place between
the Armenians, Greeks, and Catholics
concerning these marks of
The Ho y favour and especially concern-
. ^'*".*^ ""^ ing the possession of the Holy
m Dispute ggp^j^^j^^-g In 1808 the Greeks,
after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
had been destroyed by fire, actually
reduced the tombs of Godfrey of Bouillon
and Baldwin to ruins. The Greeks,
aided by Russian money, restored the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre ; mean-
while the Latins, whose zeal was sup-
ported by France, gained possession of
two chapels in 1820.
In the year 1850 the Pope and the
Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem applied
first to France, and joined France in a
further application to the Porte, to secure
protection against the Greeks. Fear of
Russia induced the Porte to decide almost
entirely in favour of the Greeks, and the
only concession made to the Catholics was
the joint use of a church door in Bethlehem.
In the realm of the blind the one-eyed
man is king ; above the reactionary
governments rose the " saviour of order/'
who had been carried to the throne of
France by the Revolution. The presiden-
tial chair, which had gained security and
permanence from the coup d'etat of
December 2nd, 1851, was made a new
imperial throne within the space of a year
by the adroit and not wholly untalented
heir to the great name of Bona-
parte. On January 14th, 1852,
he had brought out a constitu ■
tion to give France a breathing
space, exhausted as she was by the pas-
sionate struggle for freedom, and to soothe
the extravagance of her imaginings. But
this constitution needed a monarchy to
complete it. The basis of a national im-
perial government was there in detail : a
5005
A New
Throne in
France
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Napoleon IIL
Emperor
of France
legislativ^e body elected by national suff-
rage ; a senate to guarantee the constitu-
tional legality of legislation ; an " appeal
to the people " on every proposal which
could be construed as an alteration of the
constitution ; a strong and wise executive
to conduct state business,
whose " resolutions "were
examined in camera, under-
taking the preparation and
execution of everything which could con-
duce to the Vv'elfare of the people.
The twelve million francs which
the energetic senate had voted as the
president's yearly income might equally
well be applied to the maintenance
of an emperor. When the question was
brought forward, the country replied with
7,840,000 votes in the
affirmative, while 254,000
dissentients appeared
merely as a protest on be-
half of the right of indepen-
dent judgment. On Decem-
ber 2nd, 1852, Napoleon III.
was added to the number
of crowned heads in Europe
as Emperor of France by
the grace of God and the
will of the people. No
Power attempted to refuse
recognition of his position.
The democratic origin of
the new ruler was forgotten
in view of his services in
the struggle against the
Revolution, and in view
pleasing the Parisians, but also of
fixing their attention and of raising
their spirits by a never-ending series
of fresh devices. No woman was ever
better fitted to be a queen of fashion,
and fashion has always been venerated
as a goddess by the French.
Nothing but a brilliant foreign policy
was now lacking to secure the permanence
of the Second Empire. It was not enough
that Napoleon should be tolerated by his
fellow sovereigns ; prestige was essential
to him. There was no surer road to the
hearts of his subjects than that of making
himself a power whose favour the other
states of Europe would be ready to sohcit.
For this end it would have been the most
natural pnlicv to interest himself in the
. I flairs of Italy, considering
that he had old connections
with the Carbonari, with
]\Iazzini, and with Gari-
l>aldi. But it so happened
that the Tsar Nicholas was
obliging enough at this
juncture to furnish the heir
of Bonaparte with a
plausible pretext for inter-
fering in the affairs of
Eastern Europe. Napoleon
III. cannot be regarded as
primarily responsible for
the differences which arose
in 1853 between Britain
and Russia. But there can
be no doubt that he seized
PRINCE MENSCHiKOFF the opportunity afforded
also of the respect he had He was in charge of the Russian forces ^^y ^]^g quarrel of these
1 r J i- t at the battles of the Alma and Inkerman, . -n j i • j
shown for considerations of ,„d also took part in the defence of Sebas: two Powcrs and hurried
religion and armed force, topoi, but. in consequence of iiiness, he the British Government into
Unfortunately the new was recalled in isso and died in 1S69. an aggressive line of policy
monarch could not gain time to con- which, however welcome to the electorates
vince other Powers of his equality with of British constituencies was viewed with
themselves. The old reigning houses were
not as yet sufficiently intimate with him
to seek a permanent union through a
marriage alliance ; yet he was bound to
give France and himself an heir, for a
throne without heirs speedily becomes
uninteresting. Born on April 20th, 1808,
he was nearly forty-five years of age, and
dared not risk the failure of a courtship
which might expose him to the general
sympathy or ridicule. Without delay he
therefore married, on.January ^gth, 1853,
the beautiful. Countess Eugenie of Teba,
of the noble Spanish House of Guzman,
who was then twenty-six years of age.
She was eminently capable, not only of
5006
misgiving by many British statesmen, and
was destined to be of little advantage to
any power but the Second Empire.
The Tsar Nicholas had for a long time
past regarded the partition of the Turkish
Empire in favour of Russia as a step for
^. _ , which the European situation
The Tsar s n ■. j
was now ripe. Britain and
_ , Austria were the Powers whose
on Turkey . , ^ ^ u • 1
interests were most obviously
threatened by such a scheme. But he
thought that Austria could be disre-
garded if the assent .of Britain was
secured ; and as early as 1844 he had
sounded the British Government, suggest-
ing that, in the event of partition, an
TURKEY AFTER THE CRIMEAN WAR
understanding between that Power and
Russia might be formulated with equal
advantage to both. His overtures had
met with no definite reply ; but he appears
to have assumed that Britain would not
stand in his way. It was not till 1854.
was increased by the annoyance which
Napoleon felt at the arrogant demeanour
of the Russian court towards himself.
But Napoleon, busied as he was at
the moment with preparing for the
re-establishment of the empire, could not
afford to push his
resistance to ex-
tremes, and it
would have been
the wisest course
^ for Nicholas to
make sure of .the
prey which he had
m view by occupy-
ing the Danube
principalities in
force, before
Austria and Prus-
sia had finished
quarrelling over
the question of
federal reforms.
The fact was that
the development
of his plans was
checked for a
moment by the
vmexpected sub-
missiveness of the
Sublime Porte,
when it agreed to
guarantee the
Greek Christians
of the Holy Land
in the possession of
the coveted privi-
leges. New pre-
texts for aggres-
sion were, how-
ever, very easily
discovered ; and
on May nth, 1853,
Prince Menschikoff
despatched an ulti-
matum, demand-
ing for Russia a
protectorate over
the fourteen
millions of Greek
Christians who in-
THE SHRINE OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AT JERUSALEM habited the VariouS
In 1S08 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, one of the shrines which the ponntrics Under
Crusaders had endeavoured to wrest from the hands of the Mohammedans, was destroyed r^ . c u
by fire, and the Greeks, with the aid of Russian money, had the sanctuary restored. TurklSll rulC. bUO-
mission to such a demand was equivalent
to accepting a partition of the Turkish
however, that, feeling secure from further
insurrections in Poland, he unmasked his
batteries against the Porte. The tempta-
tion to reassert the French protectorate
over the Latin Christians of the East
dominions between Russia and the Sultan.
Even without allies the Sultan might be
expected to make a stand ; and allies were
5007
5008
TURKEY AFTER THE CRIMEAN WAR
forthcoming. Though Napoleon had been
first in the field against Russia, it was
h-om Great Britain that Abd ul-Mejid
now received the strongest encourage-
ment. Some months before the ultima-
tum Nicholas had con-
fessed his cherished object
to the British ambassa-
dor ; and though the
shock of this disclosure
had been tempered by a
proposal that Britain
should take Egypt and
Crete as her share of the
spoil, the British Govern-
ment was clear that, in
one way or another, the
integrity of the Turkish
Empire must be secured.
Lord Stratford de
Redcliffe, the British
representative at Con-
stantinople, advised that
no concession whatever
should be made to Russia.
The advice was taken.
Although the Tsar had
probably not counted
upon war as a serious
probabilitv, nothing now
remained but to face the ^, Alexander ii. of Russia Hungarian rebelhon. No
- , . The son of Tsar Nicholas I., he succeeded to ■, .„„j„ ^„ V,;^
consequences of his pre- the throne of Russia on March ind, 1S55. advaucc was made on his
cipitation, to recall his The emancipation of 23,000,000 serfs in 1S61, part towards an under-
ambassador and to send chiefly due to the Tsar's own efiforts, was the standing with Austria
his troops into the Danube Srreatest achievement of Alexanders reign, ^^^^-j ^^^ ^^^ WeStem
the restoration of the rights of Russia.''
Unprejiarcd as he was, he had every
prospect of success if he could secure the
co-operation of Austria. Had these two
Powers agreed to deliver a joint attack
upon Turkey, inducing
Prussia, by means of
suitable concessions, to
protect their rear, the
fleets of the Western
Powers could not have
saved Constantinople,
and their armies would
certainly not have' ven-
tured to take the field
against the combined
forces of the two Eastern
emperors. But the Tsar
overrated his own powers
and underrated the
capacity of the Sultan for
resistance. All that
Nicho'^as desired from
Austria was neutraUty ;
and this he thought that
he might confidently
expect after the signal
service which Russian
armies had rendered in
the suppression of the
principalities. They were invaded on July
2nd, 1853, the Tsar protesting " that it
was not his intention to commence war,
but to have "such security as would ensure
Powers had appeared on the scene. This
happened immediately after the Black
Sea squadron af the Turkish fleet had.
been destroyed in the harbour of Sinope by
VIEW OF KARS FROM THE EAST, SHOWING THE FORTRESS, ABOUT THE YEAR ISIO
5009
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Admiral Nakimoff on November 30th, 1853.
The allied French and British fleets had
been in the Bosphoms for a month past
with the object of protecting Constanti-
nople ; now, at the suggestion of Napoleon,
they entered the Black Sea in January,
1854. At this juncture Prince Orloff was
despatched to Vienna, without authority
. , to offer any concessions, but
R^h'n ^ iTi<^i't^ly to appeal to Austrian
. ^J* . gratitude. It would have needed
to Russia "^ , . J- 1 ,
a statesman 01 unusual penetra-
tion to grasp the fact that Austrian in-
terests would really be served by a friendly
response to this dilatory and unskilfully
managed application ; and such a states-
man was not to be found at the Hofburg.
Schwarzenberg had died very suddenly on
April 5th, 1852, and his mantle had fallen
upon the shoulders of Count Buol, who
had no qualifications for his responsible
position beyond rigid orthodoxy and
some small experience acquired in a
subordinate capacity during the brief
ministry of Schwarzenberg. Buol con-
firmed his master, Francis Joseph, in the
erroneous idea that the interests of
Austria and Russia in the East were dia-
metrically opposed. Accordingly, Prince
Orloff was rebuffed, and Austria sup-
ported a demand for the evacuation of
the Danubian principalities issued by the
Western Powers on February 27th, 1854.
France and Britain were encouraged
by this measure of Austrian support
to conclude a defensive treaty with
the Sultan on March 12th and to
declare war on Russia on March 27th. In
the first stages of hostilities they had the
support of the Austrian forces. Austria
accepted from Turkey a formal commis-
sion to hold the Danube principalities
during the course of the war, and co-
operated with a Turkish army in compelling
the Russian troops to withdraw. And on
August 8th, Austria joined with France
and Britain in demanding that Russia
„ . T» • should abandon her protec-
Kussia Rejects , , o • j ^i
,, _ . torate over Servia and the
the Demands i-. , • t, •
, .. „ Danubian prmcipalities,
of the rowers , 1,11 r • , •
should allow tree navigation
of the Danube, sliould submit to a re-
vision of the "Convention of the Straits"
of July, 1841, in the interests of the
balance of power, and should renounce
the claim to a protectorate over the
< ireek Christians of the Turkish dominions.
When these demands were rejected by
Russia, and the war passed into its second
5010
stage, with France and Britain acting on
the offensive in order to provide for the
})eace of the future by crippling Russian
power in the East, it might have been
expected that Austria would go on as she
had begun. But at this point a fifth
power made its influence felt in the already
complicated situation. Frederic William
IV. did not go to the lengths advised by
Bismarck, who proposed that Prussia
should restore peace by concentrating an
army on the Silesian frontier, and threaten-
ing to attack whichever of the two neigh-
bouring empires should refuse a peaceful
settlement. But the King of Prussia was
by no means inclined to make capital out
of Russian necessities, and turned a deaf
ear to the suggestions of Austria for an
armed coalition against the Tsar. The
result was that Austria, though she con-
cluded, in December, 1854, ^^ offensive
alliance with France and Britain, did not
take part in the Crimean War, the opera-
tions of which have already been described.
The Tsar Nicholas died, worn out with
chagrin and anxiety, on March 2nd, 1855.
His policy had cost Russia a loss which
^ . , was officially calculated at
Death of „ -^ j << /- ^
,. ^ 240,000 men ; and Generals
j^. . . January and February ' had
treated him even more severely
than the allied force which he had expected
them to annihilate. Negotiations were
opened by his son Alexander II., who
declined, however, to limit the Russian
fleet in the Black Sea. The allies, there-
fore, proceeded with the attack upon
Sebastopol ; and after a third unsuccessful
attack upon their position in the battle of
the Tchernaya, August i6th, 1855, the
Russians were compelled, by a fearful
cannonade and the loss of the Malakoff,
September 8th, which was stormed by ,
the French in the face of an appalling fire,
to evacuate the cit5^ The capture of the
Armenian fortress of Kars by General
Muravieff in November enabled the Rus-
sians to claim more moderate terms of
peace than would otherwise have been
possible. On February 6th, 1856, a
congress opened at Paris to settle the
Eastern question, and peace was signed
on March 30th of the same year.
By the terms of the Peace of Paris, the
Black Sea was declared neutral and open
to the merchant ships of every nation.
It was to be closed against the warships of
all nations, except that Russia and Turkey
were permitted to equij) not more than
TURKEY AFTER THE CRIMEAN WAR
ten light vessels apiece for coastguard
servnce, and that any state interested in
the navigation of the Danube might
station two light vessels at the mouth of
that river. The integrity of Turkey was
guaranteed by the Pow'ers, all of whom
renounced the right of inter-
fering in the internal affairs
of that state, nothing beyond
certain promises of reforms
being demanded from the
Sultan in return for these
favours. For the regulation
of the navigation of the
Danube a standing commis-
sion of the interested Powers
was appointed. Moldavia and
Wallachia were left in depend-
ence on the Sultan, but with
complete autonomy so far as
their internal administration
was concerned. They were
Suez, by way of Cairo ; shortly afterwards
the Suez Canal was begim. In Turkey
itself new roads were built, harbours
constructed, the postal service improved,
and telegraph lines erected, especially
after the events in Jidda and Lebanon
in 1858-1860. The dark
side of this onward move-
ment was the shattered
condition of the finances.
The financial embarrass-
ments of the Porte had
been steadily inci-easing since
1848. At that date there was
no foreign national debt :
there were about 200 millions
of small coin in circulation,
with an intrinsic value of 23^
per cent, of their face value.
There was a large amount of
uncontrolled and uncon-
trollable paper money, covered
MILOS OBRENOVITCH - .
to pay a tribute, and their Prince of Servia, he was driven out by uo reservc in bullion, and
foreign relations were to be ^ybs%qu\^nSre"caUedTnda"4rTis there were heavy arrears in
controlled by the Porte, death, m j^seo, his son Michael the way of salaries and army
Moldavia recovered that part "" acknowledged by the Porte,
of Bessarabia which had been taken Crimean
from her by Russia, and in this way the
latter Power was pushed back from the
Danube.
In Asia Minor the action of France and
England restored the frontier to tlie status
quo ante. Turkey, henceforward received
into the concert of Europe, promised further
reforms in th
Hatti - humayun
of February
i8th, 1856, and
reaffirmed the
civic equality of
all her subjects.
The " hat " was
received witli
equal reluctance
by both Otto-
mans and Chris-
tians. Only since
1867 have
foreigners been
able to secure
a footing in
Turkey. If any
advance has
been made since these paper promises, it
is due not to the imperial firman but to
the increase of international communica-
tion, which brought the light of civilisation
to the very interior of Asia. In 1851 the
first railway was built from Alexandria to
ABD UL-AZIZ
Becoming sultan on the death of his brother, Abd ul-Mejid, in H(il,
Abdul-Aziz found himself confronted by difficult tasks, and for ten
years was guided by two very distinguished men, Fuad and Ali Pasha.
payments. During the
War, apart from an enormous
debt at home, a loan of £7,000,000
had been secured in England. Three
further loans . were effected in 1858,
i860, and 1861. Expenditure rose, in
consequence of the high rate of inte-
rest, to ;£i4. 000,000 annually, while the
revenue amounted to /q, 000,000 only.
In 1 86 1 the
tinancial strain
brought about a
c o m m e r c i a I
crisis; an attempt
was made to
meet the danger
by the issue of
1.250 millions of
piastres in paper
m o n e y, w i t h
forced circula-
tion, W h i 1 e
the upper
officials, bank
managers, and
contractors, such
as L a n g 1 a n d-
Dumonceau,
Eugene Bontoux, and Moritz Hirsch were
growing rich, the provinces were im-
poverished by the weight of taxation
and the unnecessary severity with which
the taxes were collected. The concert of
Europe had iguaranteed the first state loan.
5011
ALI PASHA
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE -WORLD
Rise to
Prosperity
Hence in 1882 originated the international
administration of the Turkish public
debt ; and this became the basis of the
claim for a general supervision of Turkish
affairs by Western Europe, which was
afterwards advanced in the case of
Armenia and Crete.
The Porte was thus unable to prevent
the appointment of Colonel Alexander
. , Johann Cusa, at the instance of
RoumaDia s y^^^^^^ ^^ pi-i^ce of Moldavia
on January 29th and of Walla-
chia on February 17th ; the
personal bond of union thus established
between these vassal states resulted in
their actual union as Roumania in 1861.
Cusa's despotic rule was overthrown on
February 22nd, 1866, and under the new
prince, Charles of Hohenzollern. the
country enjoyed a rapid rise to prosperity.
although the political in-
capacity of the people,
the licence granted by
the constitution, and the
immorality of the upper
classes did not conduce
to general ordei . In Ser-
via the Sultan's creature.
Alexander Karageorgc-
vitch, was forced to abdi-
cate on December 21st-
22nd, 1858, the family of
Obrenovitch was recalled.
and after the death of Milos
at the age of eighty, on
September 26th, i860,
Michael Obrenovitch II.
was elected and acknow-
and French consuls at Jidda, in Arabia,
and in i860 the atrocities of the Druses
against the Christians in Lebanon and
Damascus. To anticipate the interference
of the Powers, the Grand Vizir, Fuad
Pasha, one of the greatest statesmen that
Turkey has produced in the nineteenth
century, was sent to the spot with un-
limited powers ; but it was not until a
French army of occupation appeared that
the leaders in high places were brought
to punishment, and the province of
Lebanon was placed under a Christian
governor. The chief service performed by
Fuad was that of introducing the vilayet
constitution, the division of the Ottoman
Empire into sanjaks and kasas, by which
means he had already produced great
effects on the Danube provinces. Had it
not l^een tor
the opposition of the whole
company of the Old Turks,
the imams, mollas, miite-
velis, hojas, the dervishes,
and softas, in the mosques,
the schools, the monasteries,
and also the ccffee-houses.
he would possibly have
succeeded in cleansing the
great Augean stable of
Arabic slothlulness.
Upon the death of Abd
ul-Meiid. on June 26th,
1861, his brother, the new
ruler, Abd ul-Aziz, 1861-
1876, was confronted by
difficult tasks, and the ques-
tion arose as to his capacity
for dealing with them. The
GEORGE I. OF GKEECE
The despotic rule cf King Otto led, to
his deposition, and in lsG3 a new king
ledged by the Porte. Undei r^'sorof^he^K^^rof °DenmaA' good-natured Abd ul-Mejid
the revolutionary and From an eariy pi.otograph had generally allowed his
literary government of the " Omladina," Grand Vizirs to govern on his behalf, but
" youth," Servia became the scene of
Panslavonic movements, hostile to Hun-
gary, which spread to the soil of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, and even endangered
the absolute monarchy of Michael.
On March 6th, 1867, the last Turkish
troops were withdrawn from Servian soil,
in accordance w'th the agreements of Sep-
tember 4th, 1862, and March 3rd, 1867.
After the murder of the prince, on June
loth, 1868, the Skupshtina appointed the
last surviving Obrenovitch, Prince Milan,
then fourteen years of age, and passed the
new constitution on June 29th, 1869.
An additional consequence was that
Turkey became again involved in disputes
with the Western Powers ; in 1858 the
occasion was the murder o^ the British
5012
Programme
of the
New Sultac
after 1858, when the royal privy exchequer
had been declarjed bankrupt, he relapsed
into indolence and weak sensuality. Not-
withstanding the shattered state of the
empire, his brother and successor, Abd ul-
Aziz, promised a government of
peace, of retrenchment, and
reform. To the remote observer
he appeared a character of
proved strength, in the prime of life, and
inspired with a high enthusiasm for his lofty
calling. All these advantages, however,
were paralysed by the criminal manner in
which his education had been neglected.
The ruler of almost forty millions of subjects
was, at that time, scarcely able to write a
couple of lines in his own language. The
result was the failure of his first attempts
TURKEY AFTER THE CRIMEAN WAR
to bring some order into the administra-
tion and the finances, a failure which
greatly discouraged him. Until 1871 he
allowed himself to be guided by these two
distinguished men, Fuad and Ali Pasha ;
at the same time his want of firmness and
insight, his nerv'ous excitabilit}', which
often made him unaccountable for his
actions, and his senseless and continually
increasing extravagance led him, not only
to the arms of Ignatieff, " the father of
lies," but also to his own destruction.
In the commercial treaties of 1861-1862
gunpowder, salt, and tobacco had been
excepted from the general, remission of
duties. The salt tax, which was shortly
afterwards revived, was a lamentable
mistake. Sheep farmers suffered terribly
under it, for the lack of salt produced
fresh epidemics every year among the
flocks and destroyed the woollen trade and
the manufacture of carpets. The culture of
the olive and tobacco also suffered under
the new imposts, while internal trade was
hindered by octroi duties of every kind.
To these difhculties military
'!!'' t^k"^ and political comphcations
on the Throne jj j t- • h j
,_ were added. Especially dan-
of Greece , , 1 , ■ "^ .
gerous was the revolt m Crete,
in the spring of 1866 ; in 1863 Greece had
expelled the Bavarian prince and chosen
a new king, George I., formerly Prince
Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonder-
burg-Gliicksburg, and had received the
sev' en Ionian Islands from England in 1864 ;
she now supported her Cretan brothers
and co-religionists with money, armies,
troops, and ships, notwithstanding the
deplorable condition of her own finances.
Only when an ultimatum had been sent
to Greece did the Porte succeed in crushing
this costly revolt under pressure from
a conference of the Powers in i86g.
Meanwhile, Ismail Pasha of Egypt had
received, in 1866 and 1867, the title of
" Khedive" and the right to the direct
succession. Undisturbed by English
jealousy, the " viceroy " continued the
projects of his predecessor, especially the
construction of the Suez Canal, which had
been begun by Lesseps ; he increased his
army, built warships, appointed his own
Minister of Foreign Affairs in the person
of the Armenian Nubar Pasha, travelled in
Europe, and invited the courts of several
states to a brilliant opening of the panal
in 1869 ; by means of a personal visit to
Constantinople, by large presents and an
increase of tribute, he further secured in
1873 the sovereignty which he had assumed.
In the summer of 1867 the Sultan
appeared in Western Europe accompanied
TL r- J by Fuad ; it was the first occa-
Tour of ^^^^ ^^ Ottoman history that
.. e ,, a sultan had passed the fron-
thc Sultan. ,. , , . - . ^ r ^,
tiers ot his empire, not for the
purpose of making conquests, but to secure
the favour of his allies. He had already
visited the Khedive in Egypt in 1863.
Now he saw the World's Exhibition at
Paris, and that of London in June, 1863.
On July 24th he paid his respects to the
King and Queen of Prussia at Coblentz
and returned to Constantinople by way of
Vienna on August 7th. The success of Fuad
Pasha in inducing his master to take this
step was a masterpiece of diplomacy
and patriotism ; unfortunately, the
journey, which had cost enormous sums,
did not produce the hoped-for results.
On February nth, 1869, Fuad died, as
also did his noble friend and rival, Ali-, on
September 6th, 1871 ; thereupon, simul-
taneously with the fall of the Second Em-
pire, Ottoman politics entered upon that
path which for Napoleon III. began before
the walls of Sebastopol and ended at
Sedan. In place of the influence of the
Western Powers the eagles of Russia and
Prussia were heuceforward victorious on
the Bosphorus. Upon his death-bed Fuad
had written from Nizza on January 3rd,
1869, to Sultan Abd ul-Aziz : " The rapid
advance of our neighbours and the
incredible mistakes of our forefathers
have brought us into a dangerous position ;
if the threatening collision is to
Death-bed ^^ avoided, your Majesty must
Warning of ^^.^,^j^ ^^^^j^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ j^.^^j
Fuad Pasha ^,^^^. ^^^^^j^ ^^^ j^^^j^ ^^^j^^ „
The committee of officials which travelled
through the provinces of the empire lu
1864 expressed this thought even more
bluntly : " The officials grow rich upon
the taxes, while the people suffer, working
like slaves under the whip. The income
of the taxes is divided among the officials
instead of flowing into the state exchequer."
5013
50T4
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
THE
CONSOLIDA-
TION OF THE
POWERS 111
THE SECOND EMPIRE OF FRANCE
THE ASCENDANCY OF NAPOLEON III.
AND THE WANING OF HIS STAR
CpOR a short time, the diplomatic results
^ of the Crimean war made Napoleon
III. appear to be the most powerful ruler
in Europe ; and he took upon himself
the part of a second Metternich. He con-
cealed his actual position and succeeded
in inspiring Europe with a wholly un-
founded belief in the strength of his
country and himself. The World's Exhibi-
.tion of 1855, and the congress which im-
mediately followed, restored Paris to her
former prestige as the centre of Europe.
Pilgrims flocked to the city of pleasure
and good taste, vipon the adornment of
which the Prefect of the Seine, Georges
Eugene Haussmann, was permitted to
expend ^^^4, 000, 000 per annum.
The sound governmental principle laid
down by the first Napoleon, of keeping
the fourth estate contented by high wages,
and thus securing its good behaviour and
, silent approval of an absolute
Napoleon s t r n 1 ii,
^ . , monarchy, was followed with
w . . , entire success lor the "moment
Mist ak c . ,, ,, , ,,
m the restored empire.
However, Napoleon IIT, like Metternich,
was penetrated with the conviction that the
ruler must of necessity be absolute. His
greatest mistake consisted in the fact that
he refrained from giving a material content
to the constitutional forms under which
his government was established. By this
means he might have united to himself
that section of the population which is not
subject to the influence of caprice.
The "legislative body" should have
been made representative, and should have
been given control of the finances and
the right of initiating legislative proposals.
Such a change would have been far more
profitable to the heir who was born to
the emperor on March i6th, 1856, than the
illusory refinements which gained the
Second Empire the exaggerated approba-
tion of all the useless epicures in existence.
Russia seemed to have been reduced to
Russia
After
the War
impotency for a long time to come, and
her power to be now inferior to that of
Turkey. She proceeded to accommodate
herself to the changed conditions. Alex-
ander IL assured his subjects that the
war begun by his father had improved and
secured the position of Christianity in
the East, and proceeded with
magnificent dispassionateness to
make overtures to the French
ruler, who had just given him so
severe a lesson. The Russian politicians
were correct in their opinion that Napoleon
was relieved to have come so w:ell out
of his enterprises in the East, and that
they need fear no immediate disturbance
from that quarter.
Napoleon HL showed himself worthy
of this confidence. With real diplomacy
he met Russia half way, respected her
desires whenever he could do so, and
received a tacit assurance that Russia
would place no obstacle in the way of his
designs against any other Power. Though
Austria had not fired a shot against
the Russian troops, she proved far less
accommodating than France, whose troo])s
had triumphantly entered Sebastopoi.
Austria had declined to repay the help
given her in Hungary ; she had also
appeared as a rival in the Balkans, and
had only been restrained by Prussia from
dealing Russia a fatal blow. Thus Austria's
weakness would imply Russia's strength,
and would enable her the more easily
to pursue her Eastern policy.
Prussia had fallen so low that
no interference was to be feared
from her in the event of any
great European complication, though there
was no immediate a])prehension of any
such difficulty. In a fit of mental weak-
ness which foreshadowed his ultimate
collapse, Frederic William IV. had con-
centrated his thoughts upon the possi-
bility of recovering his principality of
5015
Prussia
the Dust
5010
5017
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Neuenberg. Success was denied him.
After the ill-timed attempt at revolution,
set on foot by the Prussian party in that
province on September 3rd, 1856, he was
forced to renounce definitely all claim to
the province on May 26th, 1857. The fact
that the principality was of
no value to Prussia did not
remove the impression that
the German state had again
suffered a defeat. Napoleon
was one of the few statesmen
who estimated the power of
Prussia at a higher rate than
chd the majority of his con-
temporaries ; in a conversation
with Bismarck in March, 1857,
he had already secured
Prussia's neutrality in the
event of a war in Italy, and
had brought forward proposals
was now necessary to apply the second
fundamental principle of the Bonapartist
rulers, to avoid any thorough investigation
of internal difficulties by turning attention
to foreign affairs, by assuming a command-
ing position among the Great Powers, and
by acquiring military fame
when possible. Polignac had
already made a similar at-
tempt. He had failed through
want of adroitness ; the
capture of Algiers came too
late to prevent the July
Revolution. Napoleon did
not propose to fail thus, a%i
for once, at least, his at-
tempt proved successful.
Naturally the methods by
which Ministers had begun
war under the " old regime"
were impossible for a popular
emperor. Moreover, Napoleon
III. was no soldier ; he could
of more importance than the ^^^^^ cavour
programme of the union. ^ Uberal statesman, he laboured
With the incorporation of strenuously for the restoration of uot merely wave his sword,
Hanover and Holstein a Italian nationality, and at last, like his great uncle, and
northern sea-power was to '" isei he witnessed the sum- announce to Europe that
injiLiicin :5<.<x pw>vv-i vvu... momngof an Italian Parliament. . . ,, , - ^
be founded strong enough, m this or that dynasty must
alliance with France, to oppose England.
All that he asked in return was a " small
delimitation " of the Rhine frontier ; this,
naturally, was not to affect the left bank,
the possession of which would oblige France
to extend her territory and would rouse a
new coalition against her. Bismarck
declined to consider any
further projects in this
direction, and sought to ex-
tract an undertaking from the
emperor that Prussia should
not be involved in any great
political combination. Great
Britain's resources were
strained to the utmost by
conflicts with Persia and
China, and by the outbreak of
the Indian Mutiny, and she
needed not only the goodwill
but the friendly offices of
France. • For these reasons
URBANO RATTAZZI
be deposed. Principles must be follovv^ed
out, modern ideas must be made trium-
phant ; at the least, the subject nation
must be made to believe that the individual
was merely the imj^lement of the great
forces of activity latent in peoples. He
had turned constitutionalism to excellent
account ; the struggles of the
Liberal paity to obtain a
share in the government had
tnded by raising him to the
throne. Another idea with
^\'hich modern Europe was
lully penetrated, that of
nationahty, might now be
exploited by an adroit states-
man. Napoleon neither ex-
aggerated nor underestimated
its potency ; only he had not
realised how deeply it was
rooted in the hearts of the
people. He knew that it was
the Tory Ministrv, which He was twice Prime Minister of constautlv founded upon folly
came into office in i858 upon akVe'^^^nt^'^^HeVV^^^^^ ^nd presumption, and that
the fall of Palmerston, could each occasion, resigning: through the participation of the pcoplc
not venture to disturb the ^^ °PP,"sition to Garibaldi.
good understanding with Napoleon, how-
ever strongl}^ inclined to this course.
Napoleon was thus free to confront the
apparently feasible task of increasing his
influence in Europe and conciliating the
goodwill of his subjects to the empire. It
5018
in the task of solving state
problems fostered the theory that the
concentration of the national strength was
ever a more important matter than the
maintenance of the state ; hence he
inferred the value of the national idea as a
means of opening the struggle against
5019
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
existing political institutions. But of its
moral power he had no conception ; he
never imagined that, in the fulness of time,
it would become a constructive force
capable of bending
statecraft to its will.
Here lay the cause of
his tragic downfall — he
was like the apprentice
of some political
magician, unable to
dismiss the spirits
whom he had evoked
when they became
dangerous.
His gaze had long
been directed towards
Italy ; the dreams of
his youth returned upon
him in new guise and
lured him to make that
country the scene of his
exploits. It was, how-
ever, in the East, which
had already proved so
favourable
destroyed Austria's hopes of extending
her territory on the Black Sea, but also
became a permanent cause of disturbance
in her Eastern possessions, was now to
justify its application in
Italy. The attempt of
the Italian. Orsini, and
his three associates, who
threw bombs at the
imperial couple in Paris
on January 14th, 1858,
wounding both of them
and 141 others, is said
to have materially con-
tributed to determine
Napoleon's decision for
the Italian war. He was
intimidated by the
weapons which the
Nationalist and Radical
party now began to
employ, for Orsini in
the very face of death
appealed to him to help
his oppressed fatherland,
and it became manifest
GARIBALDI
to NapO- The central figure in the battle for Italian independ
eon's enterprises, that ^^lit^l'^^^^^e'Z^riL'l^l!^^^^ that this outrage was
he was to make his first struggle tiii itaiy became a nation, with Victor merely the cxprcssion
,, , , ■ , -, Emmanuel as her king, and then retiring to Caprera. ,• x- i -i. j.
attempt to introduce ^ '^ of national excitement,
the principle of nationality into the concert A similar state of tension existed in the
Sardinian state, its dynasty and its
leader. Count Camillo Cavour, who had
been the Prime Minister of King Victor
Emmanuel since November 4th, 1852. At
first of moderate views,
he had joined the
Liberals under Urbano
Rattazzi and Giovanni
Lanza, and had entered
into relations with the
revolutionary party
throughout the penin-
sula. He had succeeded
111 inspiring their leaders
,/ with the conviction
that the movement for
Italian unity must pro-
ceed from Piedmont.
Vincenzo Gioberti,
Daniel Manin, and
Giuseppe Garibaldi
adopted Cavour's pro-
of Europe. Turkey was forced to recognise
■;he rights of the Roumanian nation, of
which she had hardly so much as heard
when the question arose of the regulation
of the government in
the Danube principali-
ties. She could offer no
opposition when
Moldavia and Wal-
lachia, each of which
could elect a hospodar
tributary to the Sultan,
united in their choice
of one and the same
personality. Colonel
Alexander Johann Cusa,
and appointed him their
prince at the beginning
of 1859 on January 29th
and February 17th.
By this date a new
rising .of the kingdom
of Sardinia against He ascended the throne of Sardinia in 1849, in gramme, and promised
\ , • 11 1 1 succession to his father, and in J8()l he was ° ^ -r i i i
Austria had ah'eady proclaimed King of Italy at Turin, reigning until SUpport if he WOUld
been arranged for the ^is death, which occurred in January, i,s78. organise a new rising
t'S^-^fi
VICTOR EMMANUEL II.
purpose of overthrowing the foreign
government in Italy. The victorious
progress of the national idea in the
Danube principalities, which not only
5020
against Austria. Cavour, with the king's
entire approval, now made this rising his
primary object ; he was confident that
Napoleon would not permit Austria to
"ioai
5022
50-JJ
THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON III. AT THE BATTLE OF SOLFERINO
From the painting by Mcissoiiier in lli'- \ -uvre
SOLFERINO: "ONE OF THE BLOODIEST CONFLICTS OF THE CENTURY'
On June 24th, 1859, was fought the battle of Solferino, " one of the bloodiest conflicts of the century. " Three hundred
thousand men, with nearly 8()(( guns, were opposed in the terrible fight, and while the French had no definite plan of
action, the Austrian leaders were unable to avoid a series of blunders. Rarely, indeed, have troops been handled
with so little generalship. In the battle, which ended in the defeat of the Austrians, no fewer than 12.000 Austrians
and nearly 17.000 allies were killed or wounded, and 9,000 Austrian prisoners were taken, as against 1,200 Italians.
From the painting by Jules Rigo in the Versailles Museum
5024
THE SECOND EMPIRE OF FRANCE
aggrandise herself by reducing Italy a
second time. The Austrian Government
played into his hands by declining to con-
tinue the arrangements for introducing an
entirely autonomous and
national form of admini-
stration into Lombardy
and Venice, and by the
severity with which the
aristocratic participants
in the Milan revolt of
February 6th, 1853, were
punished. Sardinia
sheltered the fugitives,
raised them to honour-
able positions, and used
every means to provoke
a breach with Austria.
The schemes of the House
of Savoy and its adherents
were discovered by the
Viennese government, but
too late ; they were too
THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON
Sardinia at once began the task of mobili-
sation, for which preparation had been
already made by the construction of 250
miles of railway lines. On January ist,
1859, ^t the reception on
New Year's Day, Napoleon
plainly announced to the
Austrian ambassador,
Hiibner, his intention of
helping the Italian cause.
On January 17th, the
community of interests
between France and
Sardinia was reaffirmed
by the engagement of
Prince Joseph Napoleon
— ^Plon-Plon — 'Son of
Jerome of Westphalia, to
Clotilde, the daughter of
Victor Emmanuel. Even
then the war might have
been avoided had Austria
accepted British inter-
^"- vention and the condition
late in recognising that J"^ i^Mi-^KUK iN^^ui^nuiN im
•J - °,. . Many improvements in internal administrativju , x i j-
Lombardy and Venice- were carried out under Napoleon in., but the of mutual disarmament,
must be reconciled to the emperor's policy was one of vacillation, and Napolcon dared not pro-
Austrian supremacy by the story is told that Bismarck on one occasion y^j^e England, and in
, . ,, ^ ■ i r n described him as "an undetected incapable." r ■, r- a
relaxing the seventy of the
military occupation. Too late, again, was
the Archduke Maximilian, the enlightened
and popular brother of the emperor, des-
patched as viceroy to Milan,
to concentrate and strengthen
the Austrian party. Cavour
gave the Lombards no rest ;
by means of the national union
he spread the fire throughout
[taly, and continually incited
the Press against Austria.
The Austrian Government was
^^oon forced to recall its am-
bassador from Turin, and
Piedmont at once made the
counter move.
In July, 1858, Napoleon
cam.e to an agreement with
Cavour at Plombieres ; France
was to receive Savoy if
Sardinia acquired Lombardy
and Venice, while the county
of Nizza was to be the price Joseph napoleon
of the annexation of Parma 7^^ =°" °!Jr°!^^ "i^."*!'!!','!
formed Cavour on April
2oth that it was advisable to fall in with
the British proposals. But the Cabinet of
Vienna had in the meantime been so ill-ad-
vised as to send an ultimatum
to Sardinia threatening an
invasion within thirty days if
Sardinia did not forthwith and
unconditionally promise to
disarm. This action was the
more ill-timed, as Austria was
herself by no means prepared
to throw the whole of her
forces into Italy. By accept-
ing British intervention Cavour
evaded the necessity of reply-
ing to the ultimatum. France
declared that the crossing of
the Ticino by the Austrians
would be regarded as a casus
belli. The crossing was none
the less effected on April 30th,
1850. The war which then
began brought no special
honour to any of the com-
batants, though it materially
. -. . he married Clotilde, the daughter of
and Modena. Ihe House of victor Emmanuel, thus strength-
Savoy thus sacrificed its ening the community of interests altered the balance of power lu
ancestral territories to gain "between France and Sardinia. Europe. In the first place,
the paramountcy in Italy. The term
'Italy" then implied a federal state
which might include the Pope, the Grand
Duke of Tuscany, and the King of Naples.
the Austrian ai^my showed itself entirely
unequal to the performance of its new
tasks ; in respect of equipment it was far
behind the times, and much of its innate
5025
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
capacity had disappeared since the cam-
paigns of 1848 and 1849 ; leadership
and administrative energy were alike
sadly to seek. Half-trained and often
wholly uneducated officers were placed in
highly responsible positions. High birth,
irrespective of capacity, was a passport to
promotion ; a line presence and a kind
^^ ■ ^ . of dandified indifference to
The Austrian 1 i j j
. ^ , knowledge and experience
Army Corrupt ^ , j j.i
. ; . , were more esteemed than
and Incapable -.-, ■ . ^,
any military virtues. Ihere
was loud clashing of weapons, but general
ignorance as to their proper use. The
general staff was in an unusually benighted
condition ; there were few competent men
available, and these had no chance of
employment unless they belonged to one
of the groups and coteries which made the
distribution of offices their special business.
At the end of April, 1859, ^^^^ army in
Italy amounted to little more than 100,000
men, although Austria was said to have
at command 520,000 infantry, 60,000
cavalry, and 1,500 guns. The commander-
in-chief. Count Franz Gyulay, was an
honourable and fairly competent officer,
but no general. His chief of the staff,
Kuhnenfeld, had been sent to the seat 01
war from his professorial chair in the
military academy, and while he displayed
the highest ingenuity in the invention of
combinations, was unable to formulate or
execute any definite plan of campaign.
With his 100,000 troops Gyulay might
easily have overpowered the 70,000 Pied-
montese and Italian volunteers who had
concentrated on the Po. The retreat from
that position could hardly have been
prevented even by the French generals
and a division of French troops, which
had arrived at Turin on April 26th,
1859 '' however, the Austrian leaders were
apprehensive of being outflanked on the Po
by a disembarkation of the French troops
at Genoa. Gyulay remained for a month
in purposeless inaction in the Lomellina,
the district between Ticino
and Sesia ; it was not until
May 23rd that he ventured
upon a reconnaissance to
Montebello, which produced no practical
result. The conflict at Palestro on May 30tli
deceived him as to Napoleon's real object ;
the latter was following the suggestions
of General Niel, and had resolved to
march round the Austrian right wing.
Garibaldi, with three or four thousand ill-
armed guerrilla troops, had crossed the
5026
Napoleon
and Garibaldi
in Battle
Ticino at the south of Lake Maggiore.
This route was followed by a division
under General MacMahon, and Niel
reached Novara on the day of Palestro
and proceeded to threaten Gyulay's line
of retreat, who accordingly retired behind
the Ticino on June ist. He had learned
nothing of MacMahon's movement on
his left, and thought his right wing
sufficiently covered by the division of
Clam-Gallas, who was advancing from the
Tyrol. The battle on the Naviglio followed
on June 3rd, and Gyulay maintained
his position with 50,000 men against
the 58,000 under the immediate command
of the Emperor Napoleon in person.
MacMahon had crossed the Ticino at
Turbigo, driven back Clam-Gallas, and
found himself by evening on the Austrian
left flank at Magenta on June 4th, 1859.
Unable to rely on his subordinates for a
continuance of the struggle, Gyulay aban-
doned his position on the following day,
evacuated Milan, and led his army to
the Mincio. At this point the Emperor
Francis Joseph assumed the command
in person ; reinforcements to the number
^i . .1. of 140,000 troops had arrived.
The terrible , !, ■,■, ^ ■,
_ together with reserve and oc-
r c ir • cupation troops amounting to
of Solferino ^ , , ^ w-.i, .?
another 100,000. With these
the emperor determined to advance again
to the Chiese on the advice of General
Riedkirchen, who presided over the council
of war in association with the old quarter-
master-general Hess.
On June 24th they encountered the
enemy advancing in five columns upon
the Mincio, and to the surprise of the
combatants the Battle of Solferino was
begun, one of the bloodiest conflicts of
the century, which ended in the retreat
of the Austrians, notwithstanding the
victory of Benedek over the Piedmontese
on the right wing. Three hundred thou-
sand men with nearly 800 guns were
opposed on that day, and rarely have such
large masses of troops been handled in
an important battle with so little intelli-
gence or generalship. The French had
no definite plan of action, and might have
been defeated without great difficulty
had the Austrian leaders been able to
avoid a similar series of blunders. The
losses were very heavy on either side.
Twelve thousand Austrians and nearly
17,000 alhes were killed or wounded ; on
the other hand, 9,000 Austrian prisoners
were taken as against 1,200 Italians.
VICTOR EMMANUEL AND HIS STAFF AT THE BATTLE OF SAN MARTINO
From the painting hy Cassioli in the Palace of the Signory at Siena
THE HEIGHT OF THE CONFLICT AT SAN MARTINO ON JUNE 24th, 1859
While the main battle was in progress at Solferino, other sections of the combatants were engag-ed in a pro-
longed and deadly conflict near San Martino, and, ignorant of the fate which had overtaken the Austrian army,
Benedek, who had twice repulsed the Sardinians, continued the struggle for several hours after the issue had been
decided, retiring at last when a severe storm had broken out. This engagement was noteworthy for the conspicuous
part taken in it by Marshal Niel, "who distingruished himself above all the other leaders on the French side."
From the painting by Professor AdcmoUo in the Gallery of Modern P;untings at Florence
5027
r^-TS^-y
5028
THE SECOND EMPIRE OF FRANCE
The Emperor Napoleon had not yet
brought the campaign to a successful
<:onclusion ; his weakened army was now
confronted by the " Quadrilateral " formed
by the fortresses of Peschiera, Mantua.
Verona, and Legnago, which
was covered by 200,000 Aus-
trians. Moreover, Austria
could despatch reinforcements
more rapidly and in greater
numbers than France. Aus-
trian sympathies were also
very powerful in South
Germany, and exerted so
strong a pressure upon the
German Federation and on
Prussia that a movement
might be expected at any
moment from that direction.
Frederic William IV. had
retired from the government general
neighbour's misfortunes ; he had even
transferred Bismarck from Frankfort to St.
Petersburg, to remove the influence upon
the Federation of one who was an avowed
opponent of Austrian paramountcy. But
he awaited some definite
i:)ro])osal from the Vienna
government. Six army corps
were in readiness to advance
upon the Rhine on receipt of
the order for mobilisation.
The Emperor Francis Joseph
sent Prince Windisch-Graetz
to Berlin, to call on Prussia
for help as a member of the
Federation, although the
terms of the federal agree-
ment did not apply to the
Lombard-Venetian kingdom ;
but he could not persuade
HESS himself to grant Prussia the"
since October, 1857, in con- Chief of the staff in the Austrian leadership of the narrower
•^ ' army under Field-Marshal Radet- . ^ , •. ,i
zky. General Hess shared with that UnlOn, Or CVCn tO permit the
great leader many of his victories, foundation of a North Gcr-
sequence of an affection of
the brain ; since October 7th,
1S58, his brother William had governed
Pi"ussia as prince-regent. He had too
much sympathy with the Austrian
dynasty and too much respect for the
fidelity of the German Federal princes to
citti'iTii*! to m;)1:r ca]iital out of his
man Union. A politician of the school
of Felix Schwarzenberg was not likely
to formulate a practicable compromise.
Austria thus threw away her chance of
defeating France and Bonapartism witlr
the help of her German brethren, and of
THE MEETING OF VICIOK EMMANUEL AND GARIBALDI AT SESSIA IN Vmi
5029
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
remaining a permanent and honoured
member of the Federation which had
endured a thousand years, merely because
she dechned an even smaller sacrifice
than was demanded in 1866.
During the progress of these Federal
negotiations at Berlin the combatants had
themselves been occupied in bringing the
war to a conclusion. The
Em IroT's Emperor Napoleon was well
mperor s ^ware that the temper of the
Peace Terms t- i , • i • i 1 1
l^ederation was highly dan-
gerous to himself, and that Great Britain
and Prussia would approach him with offers
of intervention. He therefore seized the
opportunity of extricating himself by
proffering an armistice and a provisional
peace to the Emperor Francis Joseph.
After two victories his action bore
the appearance of extreme moderation.
Austria was to cede Lombardy to France,
the province then to become Sardinian
territory ; the Grand Duke of Tuscany
and the Duke of Modena were to be per-
mitted to return to their states, but were
to be left to arrange their governments
for themselves, without the interference
of either of the Powers ; Austria was to
permit the foundation of an ItaHan
Federation ; the desire of the Emperor
Francis Joseph to retain Peschiera and
Mantua was granted. On these terms
the armistice was concluded on July 8th,
and the provisional Peace of \'illafranca
on July nth ; and Napoleon withdrew.
The official account of the war of 1859
by the Austrian general staff attempts to
account for the emperor's conclusion of
peace on military grounds, emphasising
the difficult}^ of continuing hostilities and
the impossibility of placing an army on
the Upper Rhine, in accordance with the
probable demands of the Federation.
This is an entirely superficial view of the
question. Had Prussia declared war on
France on the ground of her agreement
with Austria, without consulting the
Federation, and sent 150,000
f th^'c* ^^^^ within a month from
° E^ ™'*^'"°'" ^^^ Rhine to the French
frontier, the anxieties of
the Austrian army in Italy would have
been entirely relieved. Napoleon would
certainly have left Verona if the Prus-
sians had been marching on Paris by
routes perfectly well known to him.
Although the Italian policy of Napoleon
III. seemed vague and contradictory, even
to his contemporaries, yet he was still in
5030
their eyes entitled to the credit of being
the creator of the kingdom of Italy ; so
that in the year i860 he stood at the zenith
of his influence in Europe. He successfully
concealed from public opinion how much
had really been done contrary to his wishes.
It was discovered that his character was
sphinx-like, and what was really weakness
seemed to be Machiavellian calculation.
Cavour, indeed, saw through him and
made full use of his vacillation ; and
years later the story was told how Bis-
marck, even in those days, called the French
emperor " une incapacite meconnue,"
an undetected incapable. But as against
this unauthenticated verdict we must re-
member that the emperor possessed a wide
range of intellectual interests and a keen
comprehension of the needs of his age. On
the other hand, he was lacking in firmness ;
natures like Cavour and Bismarck easily
thwarted his plans, and could lead him
tmvards the goal which they had in view.
Outside France, Napoleon's advocacy
of the national wishes of the smaller
nations of Europe made him popular.
When Moldavia and Wallachia, contrary
„ ,^ to the tenor of the treaties,
France as the 1 ■
-J, . - chose a common sovereign,
c II Ki .• Alexander Cusa, Napoleon
Small Nations t^t -^i j^i 1 1 x ti
III., With the help of Kussia,
induced the Great Powers to recognise him,
and protected the Roumanians when theii
principalities were united into a national
state. Cusa, it is true, was deposed by a
revolution on February 23rd, 1866. Prince
Charles of Hohenzollern, who was chosen
on April 20th, obtained for the youthful
state, by the force of his personality, com-
plete independence on May 21st, 1877, and
the title of a kingdom on March 26th, 1881.
It was Napoleon's purpose to perform
equal services for the Poles. The Tsar
Alexander II., in order to conciliate them,
placed, in June, 1862, their countryman,
the Marquess of Wielopolski, at the side
of his brother Constantine, the viceroy of
Poland. Wielopolski endeavoured to re-
concile his people to Russia, in order to
help his countrymen to win some share,
however modest, of self-government. But
the passionate fury of the Poles frustrated
his jiurpose, and he was unable to prevent
the outbreak of the insurrection in J anuary,
1863. He thereupon gave up his post,
and the Russian Government adopted the
sternest measures. - In February, Prussia
put the Russian emperor under an obliga-
tion by granting permission to Russian
503I
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
troops to follow Polish insurgents into
Prussian territory. This compact, it is
true, did not come into force, since it
aroused the indignation of Europe ; but
it showed the goodwill of Prussia, and
Bismarck, by this and other services in
the Polish question, won the Tsar over so
completely that Russia's neutrality was
„ ^ assured in the event of a
How Fii.iice 1 • /- x-'
„ quarrel m Germany. JSapo-
. ^ "p 1 ^^'^^ ^^^^' induced England,
and, after long hesitation,
Austria also, to tender to Russia a request
that the Poles should be granted a com-
plete amnesty ; but this was refused. The
support of Prussia was peculiai'ly valu-
able to Russia, because France, England,
and Austria resolved to intercede further
for the Poles. In a note of June 27th,
1863, the three Powers recommended
to Russia the grant of six demands, of
which the most important were a Polish
Parliament and a complete amnesty.
Palmerston supported these first steps of
Napoleon, in the interests of British rule
in India. In Poland he saw a wound to
Russian power, which he determined to
keep open. But he refused his assent to
more serious measures which Napoleon
]iressed on his consideration, because the
Polish question was not so important for
the British that they would embark on a
war for this sole reason ; still less could
Austria, since it was one of the participa-
tory Powers, follow Napoleon on his path.
The Tsar, however, was so enraged at
Austria's vacillating attitude that he
thereupon immediateh' proposed to King
William an alliance against France and
Austria. Bismarck advised his sovereign
not to accept the Tsar's proposal, because
in a war against France and Austria the
brunt of the burden would have devolved
on Prussia. Napoleon then proposed to
the Austrian emperor, through the Due
de Gramont, that he should cede Galicia
to Poland, which was to be emancipated,
_. „ '^ but in return take possession
The French r,, r-k u- ■ r^
_ . of the Danubian prmcipahties.
th L h Count Rechberg answered that
it was strange to suggest to
Austria to wage a war with Russia for
the purpose of losing a province, when it
was customary to draw the sword only to
win a fresh one. Napoleon thus saw him-
self completely left in the lurch, and
Russia suppressed the rebellion with
bloodshed and severity ; the Governor-
general of Wilna, Michael Muravjev, was
5032
conspicuous for the remorseless rigour
with which he exercised his power. It
would be a mistake to consider Napo-
leon as a sympathetic politician who, if
free to make his choice, would have
devoted the resources of his country to
the liberation of oppressed nations. His
selfishness was revealed in the expedition
against Mexico ; and there, too, he tried
to veil his intention by specious phrases.
He announced to the world that he
wished to strengthen the Latin races in
America as opposed to the Anglo-Saxons,
who were striving for the dominion over
the New World. He had originally started
on the expedition in concert with Great
Britain and Spain, in order to urge upon
the Mexican Government the pecuniary
claims of European creditors. The two
allies withdrew when !\Iexico conceded
their request ; the French general. Count
Lorencez, thereupon, in violation of the
treaty, seized the healthy tableland above
the fever-stricken coast of Vera Cruz, where
the French had landed. General Forey
then conquered the greatest part of the
land, and an assembly of notables, on July
. nth, 1863, elected as emperor
^ e amng ^j^^ Archduke ^Maximilian,
brother of Francis Joseph.
He long hesitated to accept
the crown, because Francis Joseph gave his
assent only on the terms that Maximilian
should first unconditionally renounce all
claim to the succession in Austria. After
Napoleon had promised, in the treaty of
March 12th, 1864, to leave at least 20. -^oo
French soldiers in the country until 1667,
the archduke finally consented to be em-
peror ; he did not shut his eyes to the fact
that monarchy would be slow to strike root
in the land. Napoleon, by placing the Em-
peror !\Iaximilian on the throne, pursued
his object of gradually withdrawing from
the Mexican affair, since the United States
protested against the continuance of the
French in Mexico. The reader is referred
to a later volume for the history of the way
in which Napoleon deserted the unhappy
emperor, and incurred a partial respon-
sibility for his execution at Queretaro.
The restless ambition of Napoleon's
policy aroused universal distrust in
Europe. When the war of 1866 broke out,
after his failures in the Polish and Mexican
affair, his star was already setting ; and
a growing republican opposition, sup-
ported by the 3'ounger generation, was
raising its head menacingly in France.
Power
of Napoleon
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
THE
CONSOLIDA-
TION OF THE
POWERS IV
THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY
AND GARIBALDI'S BRAVE FIGHT FOR LIBERTY
'"THE greatest political event 'of, the
*■ nineteenth century on' the" European
Continent is the simultaneous establish-
ment of the national unity of the German
and Italian peoples. The aspect of Europe
was more permanently changed by this
than by any event since the creation of an
empire by Charles the Great. The feeling
of nationality is as old as the nations them-
selves, and the histor}'^ of the two nations
with their divisions and subdivisions
records in almost every generation proud
exhortations or plaintive appeals to assert
their unity by force of arms. From Dante
and Petrarch, from Machiavelli and Julius
II. — "Out with the barbarians from
Italy ! " — down to Alfieri and Ugo Foscolo,
the line is almost unbroken.
The Germans show the same sequence.
But the appeals of the writers of the
German Renaissance, from Hutten to
Puffendorf and Klopstock, never had such
. a passionate ring, since the
wa enmg j^^^jqj^ even when most divided,
of Uerman , , i j
Nationality ^^^^ always Strong enough to
ward off the foreign yoke. At
last the intellectual activity of the. eigh-
teenth century raised the spirit of nation-
ality, and the German people becajne
conscious that its branches were closely
connected. The intellectual culture of the
Germans would, as David Strauss says in
a letter to Ernest Renan, have remained
an empty shell if it had not finahy pro-
duced the national State.
We must carefully notice that the sup-
porters of the movement for unification
both in Germany and Italy were drawn
exclusively^ from the educated classes ;
but Iheir efforts were powerfully sup-
ported by the establishment and expansion
of foreign trade, and by the construction
of roads and railways, since the separate
elements of the nation were thus brought
closer together. The scholar and the
author were joined by the manufacturer,
who produced goods for a market outside
his own small country, and by the merchant,
R 26 G
who was cramped by custom-house restric-
tions. Civil servants and military men
'did not respond to that appeal until much
later. The majority of the prominent
officials and officers in Germany long
remained particularists, until Prussia
_ -, declared for the unity of the
_ . nation. In Italy the course of
. J . affairs was somewhat different.
There the generals and
officers of the Italian army created by
Napoleon were from the first filled with the
conviction that a strong political will was
most important for the training of their
people ; the revolution of 1821 was greatly
due to them. Similarly, the officers of the
smaller Italian armies between 1859 and
1 86 1 joined in large numbers the side of
King Victor Emmanuel. The movement
reached the masses last of all. But they,
even at the present day in Italy, are
indifferent towards the new regime ; while
in South Germany and Hanover, and occa-
sionally even on the Rhine, they are still
keenly alive to their own interests.
When Garibaldi marched against the
army of the King of Naples, the soldiers
of the latter were ready and willing to strike
for his cause, and felt themselves betrayed
by generals and officers. It is an un-
doubted fact that the Neapolitan Bour-
bons had no inconsiderable following
among the lower classes. The Catholic
clergy of Italy were divided ; the leaders
supported the old regime, while the in-
ferior clergy favoured the movement. The
mendicant friars of Sicily were enthusiastic
for Garibaldi, and the Neapohtan general,
. Bosco, when he marched
Garibaldi ^^g^^j^g^ ^^q j)atriot leader, was
the Patriot ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ soldiers in
®* ^"^ a general order not to allow
themselves at confession to be shaken in
their loyalty to their king. Pius IX.
endured the mortification of seeing that
in 1862 no less than 8,493 priests signed a
petition praying him to place no obstacles
in the way of the unification of Italy.
5033
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
It was from Germany, the mother of so
many ideas, that at the beginning of the
nineteenth century the modern movement,
of which the watchword is national and
poUtical unity, took its start. But the
impulse was not given by the current of in-
ternal development ; it came from outside,
through the tyranny of Napoleon. The
nation recognised that it could only attain
mdependence by union, and keep it by unity.
The conception of emperor and empire
found its most powerful advocate in
Stein. But he and his friends, as was
natural, considered the overthrow of the
foreign tyranny more important at first
than formal unity. In his memorial
addressed to the Tsar in 1812 he pointed
out how desirable it was that Germany,
since the old monarchy
of the Ottos and thu
Hohenstauffen could not
be revived, should be
divided between the
two Great Powers,
Prussia and Austria, on
a line corresponding to
the course of the Main.
He would, however,
have regarded this solu-
tion only as an expedient
required by existing cir-
cumstances. " I have only
one fatherland," he wrote
to Count Miinster at Lon-
don, on December 1st,
1812 — " that is called
Germany ; and since I,
according to the old con-
tion, and the
JOSEPH MAZZINI
the first summons to unity was uttered by
Murat, who, when he marched against the
Austrians in 1815, wished to win the nation
for himself, and employed Professor Rossi
of Bologna, who was murdered in 1848,
when a Liberal Minister of the Pope, to
compose a proclamation embodying the
principle of Italian unity. The peoples of
the Austrian monarchy were subsequently
roused by Germany to similar efforts.
There was this distinction between Ger-
many and Italy — in the former the Holy
Roman Empire had served to keep alive
the tradition of unity, while in Italy
no political unity had existed since
Roman times. In Italy the movement
towards unity had no historical founda-
" municipal spirit " was
everywhere predominant
until the middle of the
nineteenth century.
When, in 1848, a number
of officers, who were not
natives, were enrolled in
the Piedmontese army,
the soldiers long made a
sharp distinction between
their " Piedmontese " and
their " Italian " superiors.
So again in the Crimean
War, when 15,000 Pied-
montese were sent to fight
on the side of the French
and English, most of them
heard for the first time
that the foreign nations
termed them Italians.
In Germany, again, it
Stitution, belong to it and The Italian patriot who suffered in the cause WaS a qUCStion of Uniting
to no particular part of ^^^'^^^^^^f^^'^';:^ prosperous states, but m
it, I am devoted, heart -
and soul to it alone, and p"""^"^
not to one particular part of it. At this
moment of great developments the
dynasties are a matter of absolute indiffer-
ence to me. They are merely instruments."
Stein's efforts at the Congress of Vienna,
where he vainly stood out for the emperor
and the imperial Diet, remained as noble
examples to the next generation. The
thought of nationality radiated from Ger-
many, where Arndt, Uhland, Korner, and
Riickert had written in its spirit. But
Napoleon had roused also the Italians and
the Poles, the former by uniting at least
Central and Upper Italy, with the exception
of Piedmont, into the kingdom of Italy ;
the latter by holding out to them the bait of
a restored constitution. It is significant that
5034
his watchword "God and the People,'
his purpose with passionate zeal
Italy of overthrowing un-
stable ones — for example,
the States of the Church and Naples. In
Germany it was necessary to reckon with
superabundant forces and the jealousy of
two Great Powers; and by the side of
them stood a number of prosperous petty
states where culture flourished. Italy, on
the other hand, was dependent on the
Austrians, who were termed
Tedeschi, or Germans; in this
connection, however, the
Italians were forced to admit
that an organised government and a legis-
lature, which in comparison with Piedmont
itself showed considerable advance, existed
only in the Austrian districts. And in
addition the Italians had to struggle against
the great difficulty that the papacy, as a
Italy's
Dependence
on Austria
THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY
spiritual empire, opposed their unification.
The risings of 1821 in Naples and
Piedmont, as well as that of 1831 in the
Romagna, aimed far more at the intro-
duction of parliamentary forms than 'at
the attainment of national unity. The
thought of liberty was stronger then than
. ., that of nationality. Only in
Mazzini s ^^^^ background did the secret
Great Work • , ? ^i /- u j.
„ . society of the Carbonari enter-
*** ^ tain the vague idea of the
union of Italy. The followers of the
Genoese, Joseph Mazzini, 1805-1872, claim
for him the honour of being the first to
follow out the idea of unity to its logical
conclusion. Certain it is that Mazzini,
undeterred by failures, devoted his whole
life to the realisation
of this idea. " I have
just taught the Italians,"
he said, on one occasion
after the war of 1859, " to
lisp the word ' unity.' "
It was after his arrest in
1830 by the Piedmontese
Government as a member
of the Carbonari, when he
spent several. months as a
prisoner in the fortress of
Savona, that he formed
the plan of founding a
league under the name of
" Young Italy," with the
object of creating an
Italian republic. Ani-
mated by a faith which
amounted to fanaticism,
he took as his watchword
" God and the People ! "
He described later his
feelings as a prisoner :
" I saw how Rome, in
the name of God and of
a republican Italy, offered the nations a
common goal and the foundation of a new
religion. And I saw how Europe, wearied
of scepticism, egoism, and anarchy, re-
ceived the new faith with enthusiastic
acclamations. These were my thoughts
in my cell at Savona." He did not shrink
from employing all the weapons of con-
spiracy, including even assassination.
All the rebellions and conspiracies which
he plotted proved failures ; but even under
the stress of conscientious scruples as to
the right he had to drive so many highly
gifted colleagues to death and long years of
captivity, he was supported by the thought
that only thus could the ideal of nationality
GARIBALDI
The great champion of Italian liberty, Giuseppe
Garibaldi, became associated with Mazzini in
the early days oi the movement, and was con-
demned to death, but escaping:, he returned
later to Italy to lead his people to victory.
From a photograph
be kept before the eyes of the people. In
the oath which he administered to the
members of his secret league tb.ey vowed :
"By the blush which reddens my face
when I stand before the citizens of other
countries and convince myself that I
possess no civic rights, no country, no
national flag ... by the tears of ItaU;in
mothers for their sons who have perished
on the scaffold, in the dungeon, or in
exile . . . I swear to devote myself entirely
and always to the common object of creat-
ing one free, independent, and republican
Italy by every means within my power."
The league spread over Italy and every
country where Italians lived. Giuseppe
Garibaldi heard for the first time^ of
Mazzini in 1833, when
as captain of a small
trading-vessel he was
sitting in an inn at
Taganrog on the Black
Sea, and listened to the
conversation at the next
table of some Italian
captains and merchants
with whom he was unac-
quainted. ' ' Columbus, ' '
he wrote in 1871, " cer-
tainly never felt such
satisfaction at the dis-
covery of America as I
telt when I found a man
\v]ao was endeavouring to
lil;erate his country." He
L-ageriy joined the fiery
(orator of that dinner-
|)arty, whose name was
Cuneo, and, armed with
an introduction from him,
hastened to Mazzini, who
was then plotting his
conspiracies at Marseilles.
Garibaldi took part in one of the futile
risings of February, 1834, was condemned
to death, and escaped to Argentina,
where he gathered his first experiences
of war. He long followed the leadership
of Mazzini, although the natures of the
two men were too different to permit
of any very intimate relations between
them. Garibaldi called Ma.zzini the
" second of the Infallibles " ; but he
esteemed him so highly, that at a banquet
given in his honour at London in 1864 he
toasted him as his master.
Mazzini was the central figure of the
Italian movement only up to the middle
of the fifties. After that an amelioration
5035
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
was traceable in the life of his nation.
When the middle classes took up the
cause of freedom as one man, the import-
ance of the conspiracies disappeared and
the entire system of secret societies — for
the Carbonari and the Young Italy were
opposed by the Sanfedists, the league of
the reaction — became discredited. Public
. . life was now more instinct with
Mazzim vitality. A blind and biassed
Condemned i i • • i ii
D th republicanism was no longer the
only cry ; the leaders of the
movement began to take the actual condi-
tions into account, and the Piedmontese,
in particular, worked in the cause of con-
stitutional monarchy. Mazzini, on the other
hand, hated the house of Savoy equally
with every other dynasty. Two of his
conspiracies were aimed against Piedmont,
so that sentence of death was pronounced
on him by the courts of that kingdom.
The new ideas started from Piedmont.
The noble priest Vincenzo Gioberti pro-
posed the plan that all Italy should rally
round the Pope, and follow him as leader
in the war of independence. A number of
Piedmontese nobles, Count Cesare Balbo,
Marquis Massimo d'Azeglio, and the
greatest of them, Count Camillo Cavour,
were filled with the conviction that the
government of Italy belonged by right to
the constitutional monarchy of Piedmont.
They had all grown up in an atmosphere of
conservative ideas, respectful towards the
monarchy, and filled with admiration for
the army and the civil service of Piedmont.
The revolutionists of 1848 were united only
in their hatred of the foreign yoke ; their
views for the future were of the most con-
flicting character, and must have led to dis-
sension if they had been clearly formulated.
The hope that Pope Pius would be
permanently won for the great thought
soon faded away. In the whole agitation
the idea of federalism was still widely
predominant. Venice and Rome under
Daniel Manin and Mazzini declared for
independent republics ; even
Lombardv felt some reluctance
Cavour
in Public
Disfavour
to unite with Sardinia. Rossi,
the papal Minister, wished
merely for a league of the sovereign
princes of Italy, not a united Parliament.
In Piedmont the middle-class citizens
opposed with suspicion the representatives
of the monarchical military state, and
Cavour, who defended the royal authority,
was in 1849 one of the most unpopular of
politicians. Even then he was opposed to
5036
Urbano Rattazzi, who was soon destined
to become the leader of the bourgeois
circles. Italy thus succumbed to the
sword of Radetzky. Napoleon, as Presi-
dent of the French Republic, put an end
to the Roman Republic, since he did not
wish to allow all Italy to be subjugated
by the Austrians. The heroic and, for
some time, successful defence of Rome by
Garibaldi — on the scene of this memorable
fight, at the summit of the Janiculum, a
colossal monument has been erected in his
honour — raised him to be the popular
hero of the nation, while Mazzini's re-
publican phrases began to seem vapid to
the intelligent Italians.
The wars of 1848 and 1849 ^^ft the
Italians with the definite impression that
only Piedmont could have ventured to
face the Austrian arms in the open field.
King Charles Albert was clearly a martyr
to the cause of Italian unity ; he died
soon after his abdication, a broken-hearted
man, in a Portuguese monastery. Since
his son, Victor Emmanuel, alone among the
Italian princes maintained the constitu-
tion granted in 1848, the hopes of Italy
p were centred in him. In the
avour a ^,^^^ 18^2, Cavour reached the
the Ooa! of -■ t , i / 1 ■ u
. . . . .^. immediate goal of his burning
his Ambition , ,. ,-r\^-t i-.- r
but justifiable ambition ; for
after he had allied himself with Rattazzi
and the liberal middle class, he was
entrusted with the direction of the govern-
ment. He soon ventured openly io
indicate Piedmont, which had been over-
thrown so recently, as the champion in the
next war of liberation. He drew his
weapons from the arsenal of the clever
Minister's who, in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, had helped the
Dukes of Savoy to hold their own between
France and Austria. He was the heir of the
old dynastic policy of Savoy, but in a
greater age, dominated by the thought of
nationality. He formed an alliance with
the man whom the republicans of Italy
hated intensely, and against whose life
they plotted more than one conspiracy.
The question maj' well be asked whether
the Italian blood was stirred in the veins
of the Bonapartes when, in 1805, the first
Napoleon created the kingdom of Italy,
and when, in 1830, his nephew entered
into a secret Italian alliance, and, finally, as
Napoleon III., allied himself with Cavour
for the liberation of Italy. It is not
an unlikely supposition, although diplo-
matic reasons and the lust of power were
THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY
Cavour is
Deceived by
Napoleon III.
the primary motives which actuated the
nephew of the great conqueror in forming
this alHance ; for he considered that his
uncle had bequeathed to him the duty
of destroying the work of the Congress of
Vienna, especially in Italy, where Austria
had entered on the inheritance of France.
Napoleon won friends for France on all
sides when he came forward as the advo-
cate for the idea of nationality. While
he did so, there lay in the bottom of his
heart the intention of increasing the
territory of France on the basis of this
idea, by the annexation of Belgium and
Savoy, and of thus uniting all French-
speaking peoples under the Empire. On
the other side, he thought it dangerous
to stretch out his hand to the Rhine,
where the Germans, whom he called the
coming race, might oppose
him. He wished to free Italy
from the Austrian rule, but
only in order to govern it as
suzerain. For this reason he
declined from the outset to
entertain the idea of giving
political unity to the penin-
sula. He only agreed with
Cavour at Plombieres that
Sardinia should be enlarged
into a North Italian kingdom
with from 10,000,000 to
12,000,000 inhabitants.
There was to be a Central
Italian kingdom, consisting of baron ricacqli
Tuscany and the greater part onthe flight of the Grand Duke in
of the States of the Church. ISoO, he was made dictator of Tus-
Naples was to be left un- '^^^y- ^"^ ^^^ ^^ "^"^ ^^^^ °f "-e
, touched. The Pope was to be '^'"'^'^ '" '''' ""'' "^"'" '" ''*''•
restricted to the territory of the city of
Rome and its vicinit}^ and in com-
pensation was to be raised to the headship
of the Italian Confederacy. Napoleon
reserved to himself the nomination of his
cousin, Joseph, called Jerome, to the
throne of Central Italy, but concealed his
intention from Cavour, while he hinted to
him that he wished to place the son of King
Murat on the throne at Naples. In return
P for his armed assistance the
r , emperor stipulated for the
Emperors '^ . re i -kt- t-l
p . cession of Savoy and Nice. The
Promises ^ . -^ . r o
Story of the campaign of 1859
and of its termination by the Treaty of
Villafranca has been told in the last
chapter. By the treaty. Napoleon's
promises, therefore, were only partially
fulfilled. By allowing Venetia to remain
Austrian he belied the proclamation
announcing that " Italy shall be free from
the Alps to the Adriatic," with which
he had opened the war on May 3rd.
Cavour felt himself deceived and exposed.
His old opponent, Mazzini, had derided
his policy before the war, and had warned
the Italians not to exchange
the rule of Austria for that of
France. However unwise this
attitude of the old conspirator
might be, he now seemed to be correct
in the prediction that Napoleon would
deceive the Italians. The passionate
nature of Cavour, which slumbered behind
his half good-natured, half mockingly-
diplomatic exterior, burst out in him with
overwhelming force. He hurried to the
headquarters of Victor Emmanuel and
required him to lay down his crown, as
his father, Charles Albert,
had done, in order to show
clearly to the world the
injustice perpetrated by
Napoleon. Cavour displayed
such violence that the two
men parted in downright
anger. But Cavour, without
further demur, resigned his
ofiice. That was the wisest
step he could take to turn
aside the reproach of
treachery, which the re-
publican party was already
bringing against him. In
the course of a conversation
with the senator Joachim
Fietri, an intimate friend
of Napoleon, he gave vent
to his displeasure in the most
forcible terms, and threw in the teeth of
the emperor the charge of deceit. " Your
emperor has insulted me," he cried ; " yes,
sir, insulted me. He gave me his word, and
promised me to relax no efforts until the
Austrians were completely driven out of
Italy. As his reward for so doing he
stipulated for Nice and Savoy. I induced
m.y sovereign to consent to make this
sacrifice for Italy. My king, my good and
honourable king, trusted me and consented.
Your emperor now pockets his reward and
lets us shift for ourselves. ... I am dis-
honoured before my king. But," added
Cavour, " this peace will lead to nothing ;
this treaty will not be carried out."
One of the causes which led Napoleon
to conclude peace so rapidly was the fear
that the Italians would go far beyond
his original intention and win complete
5037
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
The Demand
for
political independence for themselves.
Cavour, in spite of his proud words about
the integrity of the Piedmontese poHcy,
had really wished on his side to outwit
the emperor. For, at his instigation and
in consequence of the agitations of the
National Union, which he had secretly
organised, not merely had Parma, Modena,
I and the Romagna risen against
the Pope, but even in Central
.J Italy, in Tuscany, in the
ay Marches and in Umbria, the
authorities had been driven out, and every-
where there was an outcry for United Italy.
Victor Emmanuel had certainly, at the
wish of Napoleon, refused this request,
and had only accepted the supreme
command of the volunteer corps which
were forming everywhere.
Napoleon wished to preclude any further
extension of this movement. Hence the
hasty conclusion of the armistice, and the
provisions of the Peace of Ziirich; November
loth, 1859, that Sardinia might retain Lom-
bardy, but not extend her territory further.
In Tuscan}^ Parma, and Modena the old
order of things was to be restored, if the
people agreed to accept it ; and the States
of the Church, and this condition was
taken as obvious, must once more be
subject to the Pope.
All Itahan States were to form a Con-
federation, which Austria, as representing
Venice, wished to join. Cavour. incensed at
these fetters imposed on the Italians, said as
he left the Ministry : " So be it ! they will
force me to spend the rest of my life in
conspiracies." And in the last letters before
his retirement he secretly urged the leaders
of the movement in Central Italy to collect
money and arms, to wait their time loyally,
and to resist the wishes of Napoleon.
Rattazzi, Cavour's successor, was an
eloquent and practised advocate, of a
tractable disposition, and therefore more
acceptable to the king than Cavour ; he
possessed a mind more capable of words
, and schemes than of action.
avour s Cavour, speaking of him, said
oquen ^^^^^ -^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ among the
Successor ^■,■ • r .i ^ 1
politicians of the second class.
In accordance with the popular feeling
Giuseppe Dabormida, the new Minister of
Foreign Affairs, declared on July 23rd that
Sardinia would never enter into an Italian
Confederation in which Austria took any
part. This policy was absolutely essential
for self-preservation, since Piedmont, in a
league with Austria, the Pope, and Naples,
5038
would always have been in the minority.
The new Cabinet was wavering and in-
secure, and so dependent on the will of
Napoleon that it did not venture to take
any forward step without his consent.
But at this point the fact became evident
that the work of unification was not
dependent on the ability of individuals,
but on the attitude of the whole nation.
It is astonishing with what political tact
the several Italian countries struggled for
union with Sardinia. The Sardinian
Government was compelled to recall,
immediately after the preliminary peace,
the men it had sent to Bologna, Florence,
Modena, and Parma to lead the agitation.
These districts were consequently thrown
upon their own resources ; but Tuscany
found, on August ist, 1859, ^^ Baron
Bettino Ricasoli, and the Romagna and the
duchies in Luigi Carlo, a retired physician,
leaders who governed the provisional
commonwealths with sagacity, and guided
the public voting which declared for sub-
mission to Victor Emmanuel.
Only in quite exceptional cases was any
violence used against the hated tools
^^ _ . of the former governments ;
The Swiss .t, • j i j
otherwise order prevailed
Mercenaries ,1 , iini
f th p generally, and a childlike,
^ almost touching, enthusiasm
for the unity of Italy. The Pope
attempted a counter-blow, and succeeded
in conquering Perugia on July 20th, 1859,
by means of his Swiss mercenaries, who
did not shrink from outrage and plunder.
Thereupon the Romagna, Tuscany, and
Modena concluded a defensive alliance.
General Manfredo Fanti organised in
October, 1859, ^ force of 40,000 men ;
so that the Pope desisted from further
attacks. Since the Treaty of Villafranca
left the return of the former governments
open, so long as foreign interference was
excluded, the Pope and the dukes calcu-
lated upon an outbreak of anarchy, which
would provoke a counter-blow. They
centred their hopes on the Mazzinists ;
and Walewski, the Minister of Napoleon,
who was unfavourable to the Italians,
said that he preferred them to a party
which styled itself a government. But
this hope faded away before the wise
attitude of the Central Italians.
The Emperor Napoleon now saw him-
self confronted by the unpleasant alterna-
tive of allowing the Italians full liberty,
or of restoring the old regime b}^ force.
But ought the liberator of Italy to declare
THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY
war on the country ? And it was still
more out of the question to allow the
interference of the defeated Austrians.
He repeatedly assured the Italians that
he persisted in his intention to carry out
his programme of federation.
Doubt has been felt whether the letter to
this effect which he addressed on October
20th, 1859, to Victor Emmanuel really ex-
pressed his true intention. In that letter
he repeated his demand for the restoration
of the old regime in Central Italy and for
the formation of an Italian Confederation
with the Pope at its head. But it is
clear that this was really his own and his
final scheme ; for he was too wise not to
foresee that a united and powerful Italy
might one day turn against France.
With this idea, therefore, he said to
Marquis Napoleone di Pepoh : "If the
movement of incorporation crosses the
Apennines, the union of Italy is finished,
and I do not wish for any union — I wish
simply and solely for independence." His
programme would have proved the most
favourable solution for France, since it
would then always have had a hand in the
affairs of Italy, from the simple
1 he Italian ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^j^^ ^^^.^^^ Italian
Dtslike of 1 • 1 i_- 1 1 i. • 1.
th F K kmgdom, which owed its exist-
ence to him, would have had no
other support against Austria and the
remaining sovereigns of Italy. That was
the precise contingency which Cavour most
feared ; and for that reason he secretly urged
the leaders of Central Italy not to comply
with the intentions of Napoleon. In fact,
deputations from the Romagna, Tuscany,
and the duchies offered the sovereignty to
King Victor Emmanuel. He did not dare
to accept the offer against the wish of
Napoleon, and merely promised in his
reply that he would represent to Europe
the wishes of the Central Italians.
It is a remarkable fact that Victor
Emmanuel, in these complications, enter-
tained for a moment the idea of joining
hands with Mazzini andraising the standard
of revolt against Napoleon. By the agency
of Angelo Brofferio, the leader of the
democratic opposition in the Piedmontese
Parliament, and the opponent of Cavour's
diplomacy, the king negotiated witli the
old republican conspirator on whom first
his father, and later, he himself, in 1857,
had caused sentence of death to be passed
on account of his organisation of a revolt
in Piedmont. Mazzini showed at this crisis
how greatly the welfare of his country out-
weighed with him all other considerations.
He sent a message to that effect to the king,
and only asked him to break off entirely
with Napoleon, whom the Republicans
regarded as Antichrist. In return Mazzini
offered to raise the whole of Italy, including
Rome and Naples, after which would follow
the promotion of Victor Emmanuel to be
Th K" • king of the peninsula. But then
e mg s — ^^^. Mazzini expressly made
Advice to , , . 1 • . "^1 1 .
Brofferio proviso — he intended to
fight, as previously, for the re-
public and for the expulsion of the House of
Savoy. The king is reported to have said
to Brofferio : "Try to come to an under-
standing ; but take care that the Public
Prosecutor hears nothing of it."
The negotiations, however, did not lead
to the desired goal, for the game seemed
to the king to be too dangerous. Mazzini
certainly promised on that occasion
more than he could perform ; his schemes
could not have been carried into execu-
tion against the express wishes of
Napoleon, who would not have abandoned
the Pope and Rome. Italy had only
obtained the support of the emperor
against Austria because the monarchical
policy of Cavour offered a guarantee that
in Italy at least the revolutionaries, who
threatened his rule in France, were kept in
restraint. The emperor, as his action in
the year 1867 clearly proves, would have
certainly employed force against Italy, even
though Rome had been raised in rebellion ;
for since the French Democrats were im-
placably hostile to him, he was bound at
least to have the clerical party on his side.
Garibaldi, who then was entrusted by
the provisional government with the com-
mand of the Tuscan troops, overlooked all
these considerations, and was already
determined to advance on Rome. But
Farini, the dictator of Romagna and of the
duchies, thought his enterprise dangerous,
and, going to meet him, induced him to
withdraw from Central Italy. Having
returned to Turin, Garibaldi
was received with consideration
by Victor Emmanuel, who was
privy to this plot ; he then
addressed a manifesto to Italy, in which he
condemned the miserable, fox-Hke politi-
cians, and called upon the Italians to place
their hopes exclusively on Victor
Emmanuel. That monarch, under his out-
ward simplicity, possessed natural shrewd-
ness enough to remain on good terms with
all who wished to further the unity of Italy.
5039
Garibaldi's
Call
to Italy
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
In this consists his inestimable services
in the cause of the unification of Italy.
Towards the end of the year 1859,
Napoleon was forced to admit that he
could not carry out his programme in
Central Italy by peaceful methods. He
thus ran the risk of losing-
Savoy and Nice, which had
been promised him as a reward
before the war. His own
interests and his predilection
for the Itahan cause com-
bined to induce him to leave
a part, at any rate, of Central
Italy to Victor Emmanuel.
In order to carry out this
change of policy, Walewski
was dismissed and Edouard
Antoine Thouvenel, a liberal
who shared Napoleon's pre-
ference for Italy, was nomi
to give up my place to him. ■ But he was
still more impatient than I was. I am
sorry that he expended so much trouble in
bursting the doors that stood open to him.
But he has the right to be ambitious."
Napoleon, , although not disposed to a
grand and sweeping policy,
had the astuteness requisite
to disguise his frequent
changes of front, and to veil
his machinations with a sem-
blance of magnanimity. Since
he knew that the British dis-
tnisted him, and foresaw that
the annexation of Savoy and
Nice would appear to them
the prelude to an extensive
policy of aggrandisement, he
lulled their suspicions by
concluding a commercial
treaty on free-trade principles,
nated Foreign Minister on admiral persano January 23rd, i860. At the
lanuarv "Sth, i860. But the Admiral of the Italian fleet Per- g^j^g ^[^q }^e informed the
J J 'J ' ^^^ . sano, on the occasion of Garibaldi s _-, , -r^ i
new policy was not possible bold expedition to Sicily, was Popc that l' ranee no longer
with the Cabinet of Rattazzi, °^fp^r^et'4en'GaHbai°di^'""trani! wishcd to iusist On the
since that Minister did not po^ts and the Neapolitan fleet, restoration of the legations
possess the courage to assume the of the Romagna, Bologna, and Ferrara
to the States of the Church.
This change in the policy of Napoleon
could not have been more unwelcome to
anyone than to the Pope. After all, Pius IX.
had himself to blame for it, since he opposed
the sensible counsels of
Napoleon. The emperor
had requested him in a
letter of July 14th, 1859,
to grant to the already
rebellious legations a sepa-
rate administration and a
lay government nominated
by the Pope. " I humbly
conjure your Holiness," so
the letter ran, " to listen to
the voice of a devoted son
of the Church, who in this
matter grasps the needs of
his time, and knows that
force is not sufficient to
prospect of new and grand ^ ^^,^,F^^t^, lamoriciere ^^^^^ ^^^^ difficult prob-
x XT o (JnG 01 tnG lG3,QGrS 01 tllG L^CSritlllllSL
exploits, he induced his party in France, he was appointed Icms. In the decision of
friends to work vigorously commander-in-chief ofthe papal forces in your Holiucss I scc either
on his behalf, so that the ^^^^' '^^^'^ ^^^ ^°p^ surrounded himself tl-^g perms of a peaceful and
y-. 1 • . r T-> ij_ • with an army of 20,000 enlisted soldiers. , -i j: ^ xi
Cabinet 01 Rattazzi was tranquil future, or the
compelled to make way for him on continuation of a period of violence and
responsibility for the cession of Savoy
ond Nice. A bold and broad policy
could only be carried out with the assist-
ance of Cavour. The latter was already
thirsting for power, while Rattazzi was
vainly trying to block his
road. It is true that the
king was not pleased with
the exchange of Ministers ;
he still cherished some
rancour against Cavour for
the " scene " which the
latter had made with him
after the Peace of Villa-
franca. Public opinion, on
the other hand, more
especially in Central Italy,
looked to Cavour alone
for the realisation of its
wishes. Since his ambi-
tion was fired by the
January i6th, i860. Rattazzi and his
colleagues were not all so candid in their
views as Dabormida, the Foreign Minister,
who felt he could not compare with Cavour,
and wrote at the time : "I was impatient
5040
distress." But the Curia continued ob-
stinate, and declai"ed that it could not break
with the principles on which the States of
the Church had been governed hitherto.
The Pope, in fact, protested against
THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY
the concession of religious liberty which
had been granted by the provisional
government at Bologna. Napoleon now
adopted a severer tone. He published in
December, 1859, ^ pamphlet, " The Pope
and the Congress," in which it was stated
that a restoration of papal rule in Central
Italy had become impossible. Granted
that a secular kingdom was necessary for
the Pope in order to maintain his inde-
pendence, a smaller territory would be
sufficient for that purpose. Shortly after-
wards, Napoleon addressed a second letter
to Pius IX., in wliicli he called upon the
throne. Cavour, however, met the refusal
of Napoleon by a bold move, on which
Rattazzi would never have ventured.
Without asking the emperor, and against
his will, a plebiscite was taken in March,
i860, in all the provinces of Central Italy,
including Tuscany, on the question
whether they wished for incorporation in
the kingdom of Italy. The elections for
the Parliament of Upper Italy proceeded
at the same time with equal enthusiasm.
All the capitals entrusted Cavour with full
powers in order to express their confidence.
It was no rhetorical fi'2;ure when Napoleon,
THE REVOLUTION IN SICILY RELEASED PRISONERS IN THE STREETS OF PALERMO
Rebelling- against their Neapolitan rulers, the Sicilians looked eagerly for the assistance of Garibaldi, who at last
decided to join the movement, sailing on May 5th, 1860, with about a thousand volunteers. In the above picture
released prisoners are seen leading their gaoler through the streets of Palermo before putting him to death.
Pope on his side also to make some sacri-
fice for the union of Italy, which was slowly
and surely progressing.
Cavour, meantime, had not reached his
goal. On February 17th, i860, Italy
learnt the latest of the constantly changing
programmes of Napoleon. According to
this, only Parma and Modena were to be
incorporated with Sardinia. Victor Em-
manuel would rule the legations as Vicar
of the Pope ; but Tuscany must remain
independent ; at most a prince of the
House of Savoy might be placed on the
in a speech delivered on March ist, ex-
pressed his dissatisfaction at the arbitrary
action of Italy. Cavour, however, had
cleverly secured the goodwill of Britain,
which had quite agreed to the proposal that
Italy should withdraw from the influence
of Napoleon. Palmerston was malicious
enough to praise Cavour in the British
Parliament for the boldness of his action.
Now, at length Cavour opened regular
negotiations about the cession of Savoy
and Nice, which had been promised by
the treaty of January, 1858. What was
5041
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the emperor to do ? Was he, on his side,
to risk the loss of the two provinces by
his obstinacy ? Perhaps even at the
eleventh hour he might have prevented the
incorporation of Tuscany if he had de-
clared that under these conditions he
would be contented with Savoy ; but now
the expectations and the covetousness of
, the French had been whetted,
avour s ^^^ ^^ could not draw back.
agica There is no question that
Napoleon then abandoned the
real interests of France, and was van-
quished by Cavour. It had often been
said, and subsequent events have proved
the truth of the statement, that Cavour
exercised a positively magical influence
on Napoleon's vacillating mind. The
Italian had probed the soul of the French
emperor, and knew how far he might go.
Having correctly gauged on the one hand
the selfish interests of Napoleon, and on
the other his sympathetic attitude towards
the Italian question, Cavour could venture
to play wath him up to a certain point.
But there were limits to this policy.
Cavour in vain tried ail the arts of his
diplomacy, and every expedient which his
subtle mind suggested, to save Nice at
least for the Italians. But here he was
confronted by the definite resolution of
the emperor, w'ho would have exposed
himself in the face of France, had he given
in. Cavour and Benedetti signed the
treaty on March 24th, i860. When this
was done, the Italian Minister, with a flash
of humour, turned round suddenly and
whispered in the ear of Benedetti: "We
are partners in guilt now, are we not ? "
But an anxious time was in store for
Cavour — the debate in the Italian Parlia-
ment. The great majority of the people,
certainly, understood that King Victor
Emmanuel and Cavour could not have
acted otherwise. Rattazzi, however, the
old rival of Cavour, placed himself at the
head of the opposition ; and he had a
G h Id" strong supporter in Garibaldi,
an a i ^^-^^^ ^^^j^ j^-^ ^^^^ -^ Parliament
Deceived ii j.u 1 • ^ r
. ^ With the express obiect of
by Cavour ,, ^ . j. J. , .
opposmg the cession of Nice, his
native town, to France. Henceforth he
hated Cavour, who, as he said, had made
him an alien in his own country. Garibaldi
was not so indignant at the fact itself as
he was that Cavour had deceived him ;
since a year previously, in answer to a
direct question, the Minister had denied
the cession of Nice. In no other way
5042
could the 'crafty statesman have secured
Garibaldi's sword for the war of liberation.
On the other hand, Garibaldi esteemed
the king highly, because some months
later to the question, " Yes or no," he
had returned the true answer. Victor
Emmanuel then added that, if he as king
submitted to cede Savoy, the country of
his ancestors, to France, Garibaldi must
be prepared to make equal sacrifices for
the sake of the union of Italy.
We are told that Cavour, at this critical
time, in order to soothe Garibaldi's
feelings, sent him a note with the brief
question, " Nice or Sicily ? " He is thus
said to have incited the enthusiastic
patriot to conquer the island. The story is
quite improbable ; for Cavour would cer-
tainly have preferred to mark time for the
present, and consolidate the internal and
economic conditions of the kingdom of
North Italy, which consisted of 4,000,000
Piedmontese, 2,500,000 Lombards, and
4,000,000 Central Italians. This state,
without the States of the Church, which
were in an impoverished condition through
bad administration, and without the
. , pauper population of Naples,
_^*^* ^ ^ would certainly have risen to
oming considerable prosperity. It
would have been well for North
Italy not to have been burdened with the
task of drawing the semi-civilised districts
of the south into the sphere of its higher
culture and its greater prosperity. " We
must first organise ourselves," Cavour
said at the time, " and form a powerful
army ; then we can turn our eyes to
Venetia and further to the south, and to
Rome." It was certainly, therefore, no
hj'pocrisy when, up to March, i860, he
repeatedly sent envoys to Naples, in order
to induce the Bourbons to follow a national
policy and enter into an alliance with
the kingdom of North Italy.
But here the genius of the Italian people
took other paths. The wary statesman
soon saw himself carried onward by the
party of action farther than he himself had
wished ; for ]\Iazzini and his partisans were
incessantly scheming the revolt of Sicily.
Under their instructions Francesco Crispi,
who had long before been condemned to
death by the Neapolitan cojirts, travelled
through the island at great personal risk,
collecting on all sides sympathisers with
the cause, and preparing for the day of
rebellion. The Sicilians did indeed rise
in various places, but their attempts
THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY
were hopeless if Garibaldi could not
be induced to invade Sicily. He de-
clared to the Mazzinists from the very first
that he would only join the struggle under
the standard of " Italy and Victor Em-
manuel " ; in spite of his republican
leanings he saw with unerring perception
that Italy could only be united by means
of the Piedmontese monarchy. Mazzini
also declared, as in the previous year, that
he wished first and foremost to conform
to the expressed will of the people.
But the conscientious Garibaldi still
hesitated ; he was weighed down by the
enormous responsibility of leading the fiery
youth of Italy to danger and to death,
since all former plots against the Bourbons
had miscarried , and been drowned in
the blood of their promoters. King Fer-
dinand II. of Naples, called " Bomba "
since the savage bombardment of Messina
in September, 1848, understood how to
attach the soldiers of his army to his
person ; he was hard-hearted but cunning,
and by his affectation of native customs
won himself some popularity with the
lower classes on the mainland. The
G h M" Sicilians, indeed, hated their
ri a IS ]v;fgg^pQ}i^a.n rulers from of old ;
J. ... and the people gladly recalled
the memory of the Sicilian
Vespers, by which they had wrested their
freedom from Naples in 1282. King
Ferdinand died on May 22nd, 1859, and
was succeeded by his weak son, Francis
II., a feeble nature, with no mind of
his own. Since the outbreak in Sicily
was suppressed, and seemed to die away,
Cavour urgently dissuaded Garibaldi from
his enterprise, even though he later secretly
aided it by the supply of arms and am-
munition. It was Cavour's business then
to decline any responsibility in the eyes of
the diplomatists of Europe for the uncon-
stitutional proposal of the general.
Garibaldi finally took the bold resolu-
tion of sailing for Sicily on May 5th, i860,
with a thousand or so of volunteers.
This marks the beginning of his heroic
expedition, and also of the incomparable
game of intrigue played by Cavour ; for
the whole body of European diplomatists
raised their voices in protest against the
conduct of the Italian Government which
had allowed a warlike expedition against
a neighbouring state in time of peace.
Cavour, assailed by all the ambassadors,
declared, with some reason, that Garibaldi
had acted against the wishes of the
Government, and informed the French
emperor that the Government was too
weak to hinder the expedition by force,
since otherwise there was the fear of a
republican rising against the king. At
the same time Cavour adopted measures to
avert all danger from Garibaldi. Admiral
Persano received commands from him to
, ^. place his ships between Gari-
Insurrection f ,,-, , ^ , i ,,
Amon baldi s transports and the
thTskilians ^'eapohtan fleet which was
watching for them. To this
intentionally cryptic order Persano replied
that he believed he understood ; if need
arose Cavour might send him to the fortress
at Fenestrelles. He must have made up his
mind to be repudiated, like Garibaldi, in
the event of the failure of the expedition.
Garibaldi landed at Marsala, the Lily-
baum of the ancients, on May nth, i860.
He obtained but little help from the
Sicilians ; when he attacked on May 15th,
near Calatafimi, the royal troops, the
2,400 Sicilians who had joined him, ran
away at the first shot, while he won a
splendid victory with his volunteers.
At Palermo, however, all was ready for
the insurrection. In concert with his
friends there Garibaldi, notwithstanding
the great numerical superiority of the
Bourbon troops, ventured on a bold attack
during the night of the 27th-28th May.
The people sided with him ; the troops
of the king were fired upon from the
houses and withdrew to the citadel,
whence they bombarded Palermo. Rebel-
lion blazed up through the whole island, and
the scattered garrisons retired to the strong
places on the coast, especially to Messina.
Alarmed at the revolt of the island,
King Francis of Naples changed his tone ;
in his dire necessity he summoned liberal
Ministers to his counsels, and promised
the Neapolitans a free constitution. He
sent an embassy to Napoleon III. with a
petition for help. The attitude of the
latter was significant. He explained to
the envoys that he desired the continuance
. of the Kingdom of Naples, but
King Francis ^^^^^ -^ ^-^ ^^^ ^-^ -^ ^^^^ ^^^^.^^
to check the popular move-
Appeals to
apo con . j^pj^^_ ^YYie Italians, he said,
were keen-witted, and knew that, after
having once shed the blood of the French
for their liberation, he could not proceed
against them with armed force. He added :
" The power stands on the national side,
and is irresistible. We stand defenceless
before it." He advised the King of
5043
HARM3WORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Naples, however, to abandon Sicily, and
to offer an alliance to King Victor Em-
manuel. Napoleon promised to support
his proposal. This was done, and all
the Great Powers assented to the wishes
of France — even Great Britain, which,
with all its inclination to Italy, still
wished that the peninsula should be
divided into two kingdoms. Cavour was
in the most difficult position ; it was
impossible, in defiance of Europe, to
refuse negotiations with Naples, yet he
could not but fear to risk his whole work
if he offered his hand to the hated
Bourbons. He therefore consented to
negotiations, for form's sake, and even
induced King Victor Emmanuel to write a
letter to Garibaldi, calling upon the latter
to discontinue landing troops on the
mainland of Naples.
Garibaldi thereupon replied to the king
on June 27th : " Your Majesty knows
the high respect and affection which I
entertain for your person ; but the state
of affairs in Italy does not allow me to
obey you as I should wish. Allow me,
then, this time to be disobedient to you.
So soon as I have accomplished my duty
and the peoples are freed from the detested
yoke, I will lay down my sword at your
feet, and obey 3'ou for the rest of my life."
But Cavour was harassed by a still
further anxiety. Garibaldi, on his march
through Sicih', surrounded himself almost
exclusively with partisans of Mazzini, and
was resolved, so soon as Naples was
liberated, to march on Rome. If then the
republican party of action in this way did
their best for the liberation of Italy, the
fate of the monarchy was sealed. Cavour,
therefore, staked everything to provoke a
revolution on the mainland, by which not
Garibaldi, but Persano or the king him-
self, should be proclaimed dictator. He
. . entered into a compact with
uspicions o ^^^ of the Ministers of the King
of Naples, Liborio Romano,
who equally with Alessandro
Duke of Majano, adjutant-
Ferdinand II., was ready for
Cavour hoped by aid of the
latter to rouse a part of the Neapolitan
army to revolt. He wrote to Persano :
" Do not lose sight of the fact. Admiral,
that the moment is critical. It is a question
of carrying out the greatest enterprise of
modern times, by protecting Italy from
foreigners, pernicious principles, and fools."
But Nunziante, awakening the suspicion
of the Bourbon Government, was obliged
to take refuge on board the Piedmontese
fleet. The king's uncle, Prince Louis,
the Bourbon
Government
Nunziante,
general of
treachery.
THE LIBERATORS OF SICILY. GARIBALDI WITH A GROUP OF PATRIOT HEROES
.5044
THE MISERABLE HIDING-PLACE OF THE KING AND QUEEN OF NAPLES
During the bombardment ofGaetaby the Piedmontesein 1861, the King and Queen of Naples sought refuge in the damp,
unwholesome vaults illustrated in the above picture. " Their fear," says a contemporary accountjof the siege, " must
have been very great indeed to have induced them to live in such a wretched hole. The stench, on entering, is great ; and
in some chambers through the doorway four generals died during the siege from the bad atmosphere and confinement."
Count Aquila was ordered by his nephew
to quit the kingdom. It was thus
evident that Garibaldi's services must
once more be utihsed in order to over-
throw the Bourbons. He landed on
August 19th, i860, on the coast of the
peninsula near Melito, and marched di-
rectly on Naples. The generals who were
sent against him were unreliable, since
their hearts were in the Italian cause. The
r "K M" soldiers who supported the
an a 1 s gQ^-i^Qj-jg thought themselves
■ t N I betrayed, and murdered Gen-
eral Fileno Briganti at Mileto,
August 25th, after he had concluded
terms of capitulation with Garibaldi. The
latter was received everywhere with
enthusiasm ; the common people regarded
him as an invulnerable hero. When he
entered Naples on September 7th, i860,
with his 18,000 volunteers, he was greeted
by Liborio Romano as liberator ; the king
withdrew with his army of 60,000 men
into a strong fortress on the Volturno.
A momentous crisis had arrived. For the
adherents of Mazzini in the train of Gari-
baldi it was of vital importance to prevent
the people of Naples from being called upon
to vote whether they wished Victor
Emmanuel to be king. They confirmed
Garibaldi in the idea of marching imme-
diately on Rome, of driving out the
French troops, and of putting an end to
the hierarchy. Garibaldi's breast swelled
with his previous successes ; he was
susceptible to flattery, and firmly per-
suaded himself that it was merely Cavour's
jealousy if Victor Emmanuel did not follow
the noble impulses of his heart and throw
open to him the road to Rome and Venice.
When Cavour sent his trusted envoy,
the Sicihan Giuseppe La Farina, in order
to put himself in communication with
Garibaldi, the latter insulted him by
ordering his expulsion from Sicily. At
first Garibaldi acquiesced in the dictator-
ship of Agostino Depretis, who was sent
by the king ; but on September i8th he
replaced him, from suspicion of his con-
nection with Cavour, by Antonio Mordini,
5045
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
an intimate friend of Mazzini. In this way
Garibaldi succeeded in involving Italy
simultaneously in a war with France and
Austria. The Emperor Napoleon looked
sullenly at Naples, where a revolutionary
focus was forming that threatened his
throne with destiiiction.
Once more Cavour faced the situation
with the boldest determination. He was
firmly convinced that the monarchy and
the constitutional government of North
Italy must contribute as much to the
union of the peninsula as Garibaldi ; he
therefore counselled the king to advance
with his army into the papal territory and
itself and its immediate vicinity, had
surrounded himself with an army of
20,000 enlisted soldiers, at whose head
he placed General Lamoriciere, one of
the leaders of the legitimist party in
France. The mercenaries consisted of
French, Austrians, Belgians, and Swiss ;
their officers were partly the flower of
the legitimist nobility of France — a fact
which could not be very pleasant to
Napoleon. But King Victor Emmanuel
sent 40,000 men, under the command of
General Manfredo Fanti, against the
States of the Church ; and Lamoriciere,
who was obliged to leave half his troops
FAREi/s/ELL VISIT OF GARIBALDI TO ADMIRAL MUNDY ON THE HANNIBAL AT NAPLES
to occupy it — with the exception of Rome,
which was protected by Napoleon— to
march on Naples and to defeat the army
of the Bourbon king, which was encamped
on the Volturno. Matters had come to
such a crisis that, when Victor Emmanuel
sent his Minister Luigi Farini, from 1859-
1860 dictator of the Emilia, and General
Cialdini to Napoleon III., to expound his
plan, the emperor gave a reply which showed
that he was not blind to the necessity of
the action taken by Victor Emmanuel.
The Pope, in order not to be entirely
dependent on the help of France, which
was intaided merely to protect Rome
5046
to suppress the inhabitants o( the States
of the Church, was attacked by a greatly
superior force. He was so completely
defeated at Castelfidardo on September
1 8th, i860, that he was only able to escape
to Ancona with 130 men, while almost the
entire papal army was taken prisoners.
Persano received orders to bombard An-
cona ; it surrendered on September 29th.
The troops of Garibaldi had in the
meantime attacked the Bourbon army on
the Volturno, but without any success.
The Bourbon troops crossed the Volturno
in order, in their turn, to attack. Garibaldi
boldly held his ground with his men, and
GENERAL VIEW OF CAPRERA, GARIBALDI'S ISLAND HOME
THE RETREAT OF GARIBALDI, NEAR RAVENNA, ONE OF ITALY'S HISTORIC TREASURES
THE HOME AND REFUGE OF ITALY'S GREATEST PATRIOT
5047
ITALY'S TRIBUTE TO GARIBALDI : THE PATRIOT'S MONUMENT ON THE JANICULUM AT ROME
5048
THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY
the Neapolitans, although three to one,
could not gain a victory ; but Garibaldi
was far from being able to calculate upon
a rapid success. Under these circumstances
public opinion was strongly impressed when
the army of Victor Emmanuel appeared on
the bank of the Volturno ; the Neapolitans
withdrew behind the Garigliano.
It was high time that King Victor
Emmanuel appeared in Naples ; for
Garibaldi was now so completely under
the influence of the opponents of Cavour
that he flatly refused to
allow the incorporation
of Naples and Sicily in
the kingdom of Italy to
be carried out. Mordini,
his representative in
Sicily, worked at his
side, with the object
that independent Parlia-
ments should be sum-
moned irs Naples and
Palermo, w^hich should
settle the matter. Gari-
baldi actually informed
the king that he would
not agree to the union
unless Cavour and his
intimate friends were
first dismissed from the
Ministry. By this de-
mand, however, he ran
counter to almost the
entire public opinion of
Italy. In Naples especi-
ally and in Sicily all
prudent men wished for
a rapid union with Italy,
since the break-up of the
old regime, in Sicily
especially, had brought
in its train confusion,
horrors, and political
murders. Garibaldi long
debated with himself
whether he should yield ;
but when the Marquis Pallavicino — who
had fretted away the years of his manhood
as a prisoner in the Spielberg at Briinn and
was now the leader of the party of action — ■
and with him virtually the whole popu-
lation of Naples, went over to the other
side, the patriot general mastered himself
and ordered the voting on the union with
Italy to be arranged, October 21st.
The king would have been prepared to
grant his wish and to nominate him
lieutenant-general of the districts con-
GARIBALDI'S STATUE AT FLORENCE
quered by him, had not Garibaldi attached
the condition to it that he should be
allowed to march on Rome in the coming
spring. As this could not be granted, he
withdrew in dignified pride, although
deeply mortified and implacably hostile to
Cavour, to his rocky island of Caprera.
In his farewell proclamation he called
upon the Italians to rally round "II Re
galantuomo " ; but he foretold his hope
that in March, 1861, he would find a
million Italians under arms, hinting in
this way that he wished
by their means to liberate
Rome and Venice. But a
fact, which many years
later was disclosed in the
memoirs of Thouvenel
and Beust, shows how
correct the judgment of
Cavour was when he
kept the Italians at this
time away from Rome.
When Garibaldi wished
to march against Rome,
Napoleon told the Vienna
Cabinet that he had no
objection if it wished to
draw the sword against
Italy to uphold the Treaty
of Zurich — that is to say,
for the papacy ; only, it
could not be allowed to
disturb Lombardy again.
It is conceivable that
Rechberg, the Foreign
Minister, dissuaded the
Emperor Francis Joseph
from a war which could
bring no gain to Austria
even in case of victory.
The Bourbon army could
not hold its ground
against the troops of
Victor Emmanuel, and
King Francis threw him-
self into the fortress of
Gaeta. When he surrendered there with
8,000 men on February 13th, 1861, the
Union of Italy was almost won. Cavour
himself was not fated to see the further
accomplishment of his wishes. He was
attacked by a deadly illness not long after
an exciting session of Parliament, in
which GaribalcU heaped bitter reproaches
on his head. In his delirium he dreamed
of the future of his country. He spoke of
Garibaldi with great respect ; he said that
he longed, as much as the general, to go
5049
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
to Rome and Venice. He spoke with
animation of the desirabihty of reconcihng
the Pope with Italy. When his confessor
Giacopo handed him the sacrament on
June 6th, 1861, he said to him : " Brother,
brother, a free Church in a free state "
(" Frate, frate, Ubera chiesa in hbero
stato "). These were his last words.
, No problem had engrossed
_ . the maker of Italy in the last
^ . months of his life so much as
the Roman question. There
was a section of his friends who considered
it necessary to yield Rome to the Pope,
in order that the secular power of the
papacy might remain undisturbed. Such
was the idea of D'Azegho. Stefano J acini
thought that Rome, on the model of the
Hanse towns, might be turned into a
Free State, where the Pope might main-
tain his residence in the character of
a protector and suzerain.
Cavour, on the contrary, was convinced
that Italy without its natural capital was
an incomplete structure. He would have
granted the Pope the most favourable con-
ditions if the latter would have met the
wishes of the Italians. The Throne of Peter,
which so many able statesmen had filled
in the past, was now held by Pius IX., a
child-like, religious nature, who allowed
himself to be enmeshed by the irreconcil-
able ideas of Giacomo Antonelli and the
Jesuits, and by his obstinacy proved the
greatest obstacle to the union of Italy.
In spite of repeated pressure from the
Emperor Napoleon, he refused to admit
the introduction of reforms in the adminis-
tration of the Papal States, or to conciliate
The P ^^^® national feelings of the
an Obstacl Italians. Victor Emmanuel,
to Union even before his march into the
States of the Church, professed
his readiness to recognise the papal sove-
reignty within the old territorial limits,
provided that the Curia transferred to
him the vicariate over the provinces taken
from it. It was an equally beneficial
circumstance for the infant state that
the Pope, by rei)udiating liberty of con-
science and free political institutions in his
Encyclical of December 8th, 1864, and in
the Syllabus, Syllabus coniplectens praci-
puos noslrcB cBtatis errores, outraged the
sensibilities even of those Catholics who
wished for the maintenance of the tem-
poral power, but did not wish to plunge
back into mediaevalism. Liberal ideas
would not have been able to continue their
victorious progress between i860 and 1870
in the Catholic countries of Austria, Italy,
and France if the Papal Chair had not
involuntarily proved their best ally.
Baron Bettino Ricasoli, the successor
of Cavour, thought that he acted in his
predecessor's spirit when he made dazzling
proposals to the Pope, on condition that
the latter should recognise the status quo.
Ricasoli proposed a treaty, which not
merely assured all the rights of the papal
primacy, but offered Pius, as a reward
for his conciliatoriness, the renunciation
by the king of all his rights as patron,
especially that of the appointment of the
G h \d' bishops. By this the Pope
w ^ 'a A would have completely ruled the
in B ttl Church of Italy ; and that State
would have been deprived of
a sovereign right, which not merely
Louis XIV., but Philip II. of Spain and
Ferdinand II. of Austria, would never
have allowed themselves to lose. In place
of any answer the cardinal secretary,
Antonelli, declared, in the official " Gior-
nale di Roma," that the proposal of
Ricasoli was an unparalleled effrontery.
This unfortunate attempt overthrew the
Ministry of Ricasoli, and under his
successor, Rattazzi, Garibaldi hoped to
be able to carry out his design against
Rome. He mustered his volunteers in
Sicily, and landed with 2,000 men on
the coast of Calabria ; but the Govern-
ment was in earnest when it announced
that it would oppose his enterprise by
arms. Garibaldi, wounded by a bullet
in the right foot, was forced to lay
down his arms after a short battle at
Aspromonte on August 2gth, 1862. The
road to Rome was not opened to the
Italians until the power of France was
overthrown by the victories of Germany.
5050
THE
RE-MAKING
OF
EUROPE
-T-^
k
THE
CONSOLIDA-
TION OF THE
POWERS V
PRUSSIA UNDER KING WILLIAM I.
AND COUNT BISMARCK'S RISE TO POWER
CAVOUR, on his death-bed, spoke un-
ceasingly of the future of his country,
and thus expressed himself about Ger-
many : " This German Federation is an
absurdity ; it will break up, and the union
of Germany will be established. But the
House of Hapsburg cannot alter itself.
What will the Prussians do, who are so
slow in coming to any conclusions ?
They will need fifty years to effect what
we have created in three years." This
was the idea of the future which the
dying statesman, to whom the name of
Bismarck was still probably unknown,
pictured to himself. It is quite possible
that German}^ notwithstanding its effi-
ciency and its culture, would have re-
quired, without Bismarck, another half-
century for its union. King Frederic
William I. had possessed an efficient army,
without being able to turn it to account,
as his great son did. Twice the tools
were procured and ready before
the master workman appeared
of King
William I.
on the scene who knew how
to use them. We know pre-
cisely the goal which King William I.
put before himself in the German
question before Bismarck became his
Minister. The plans which, as Prince
Regent, he unfolded to the Emperor Francis
Joseph at the conference at Toplitz,
towards the end of July, i860, were modest.
He was prepared to form an alliance
with Austria which would have guaranteed
to that country its existing dominions,
thus including Venice. In return he
required a change in the presidency of the
GeiTnan Federation as well as the com-
mand in the field over the troops of North
Germany in future federal wars ; the
supreme command in South Germany
was to fall to Austria. Thus, for the
future there would be no possibility of
the Fedeiation choosing a general for
itself, as Austria had desired on June 6th,
1859, when Germany armed against
Napoleon III. Prussia was bound to
prevent a majority in the Federation
deciding the question of the supreme
command of its army. Neither William
I. nor his Ministers then aimed at the
subjugation of Germany. But even those
claims wsre rejected by Austria. Francis
, Joseph declared that the presi-
w * k f^^ ^ dency in the Federation was
. ^ an old prerogative of his house,
^^^ and therefore unassailable. On
the other matter no negative answer
was returned, and negotiations were
opened with the Federal Diet ; but
Austria was certain that the Assembly
would reject the proposition.
If we leave out of sight the army
reforms, the inestimable work of William
I., we shall observe, until the appearance
of Bismarck on the scene, serious vaciha-
tion in the home policy no less than in
the foreign policy of Prussia. When the
Prince Regent became the representative
of King Frederic WiUiam IV., he issued
on October gth, 1858, a programme which
announced in cautious language the breach
with the reactionary method of govern-
ment. The avoidance of- all canting
piety produced a beneficial impression ;
but there were only platitudes on the
German question, among others the phrase :
" Prussia must make moral conquests
in Germany." When the Prince Regent
soon afterwards summoned a Ministry of
moderate Liberals, with Prince Anton von
Hohenzollern at its head, public opmion
breathed more freely, and the dawn of
a " new era " was expected. The name of
Count Maximilian Schwerin, Minister of the
. . Interior, seemed to guarantee
Prussia m ^ broad-minded policy of
,, reform. Count Alexander
the Dawn of
a " New Era
von Schleinitz, the Minister
of Foreign Affairs, was, on the contrary,
still firmly attached to the old system.
The Prussian people meantime under-
stood the good intention, and the new elec-
tions to the Chamber brought a majority
of moderate Liberals which was prepared
5051
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
to support the Government. A number
of Liberal leaders intentionallj^ refrained
from standing, in order not to arouse
in the Prince Regent misgivings lest a
repetition of the state of things in 1848
was intended. The leading figure in the
Chamber, which met in January, 1859,
was Vincke, whose loyalty was beyond
suspicion. Commendable political wisdom
was shown in this moderation on the part
of the constituencies. As a matter of
fact, the new Government introduced
schemes of reform touching the abolition
of the land-tax privileges of the nobihty
and the abolition of the police powers
of the owners of knight-estates. Great
efforts were expended to
induce the Upper House,
where the Conservatives
possessed a majority, to
accept the reforms. In
a matter of German
politics, where the con-
science of the people
chimed in, the new era
fulfilled the expectations
formed of it. Prussia
spoke boldly in the
Federal Diet on behalf of
the restoration of the
constitution of Electoral
Hesse, which had been
meanly curtailed. The
Government could not
rise superior to these
attacks. The Prince
Regent was unable to
bring himself to make a
clean sweep of a set of
unpopular high officials,
who had been much to
KING WILLIAM I. OF PRUSSIA
He was born in 1797, and on the death of
his brother, Frederic William IV., succeeded
... . to the throne of Prussia, being the seventh
blame m the reactionary king of that country, and on January 18th,
period for open violations '^''' ^^' P'-o^^'aimed first German Emperor.
of the laws. The revolt of Italy had a
great and immediate effect on the German
people. The founding of the National
Society, with Rudolf von Bennigsen at
its head, in July, 1859, was a direct con-
sequence of the Italian war. The society
aimed at the union of all German-speaking
races outside the Austrian Empire under
the leadership of a Liberal Prussia. The
Regent, far from being encouraged, felt
alarmed by the events in Italy ; the re-
volutionary rising in Naples and Garibaldi's
march repelled him. He could not con-
vince himself that the national will was
entitled to override legitimist rights.
His whole policy, both at home and
5052
abroad, was thus stamped by conservatism
and uncertainty. The Austrian Minister,
Rechberg, at the conferences of the
Emperor Francis Joseph with the Prince
Regent and with the Tsar at Toplitz and
Warsaw, succeeded in confirming these
two monarchs in the conviction that they,
too, were threatened by the national and
Liberal tendencies. Austria was no longer
isolated in that respect as in 1859.
All these circumstances co-operated to
close the ears of the Prussian people when
the king, who succeeded his brother on the
throne on January 2nd, 1861, came before
the Chamber with the plan of army reform.
William I. was superior to the majority of
his German contempor-
aries in recognising that
a comprehensive Prussian
policy could only be
carried out with a strong
army. Leopold von
Ranke says of a con-
versation which he had
with the king on June
13th, i860: "The sum
of his resolution was . . .
to leave the German
princes undisturbed in
their sovereignty, but to
effect a union in military
matters which would con-
duce to a great and general
efficiency. He fully
grasped the idea that the
military power comprised
in itself the sovereignty."
As long before as the
preparations which might
have led to a war with
Austria in 1850, the
prince was convinced that
the Prussian army, which
nominally, on a war footing, numbered
200,000 men with the colours and 400,000
in the Landwehr, was not sufficient for
protracted campaigns. The existing organ-
isation had been formed in the critical
times when the distrust of Napoleon I.
and vexatious treaty obligations compelled
Prussia to keep up a small peace army.
Under the financial stress of the period
subsequent to 1815, she was forced to
continue with this defensive army, which
in comparison with that of other military
states was much weaker than the army
which Frederic II. had raised in his far
smaller kingdom. The mobilisation of 1859
had shown serious deficiencies in every
CORONATION CEREMONY OF KING WILLIAM I. AT KONIGSBERG, OCTOBER 18TH, 1861
5053
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
direction. Besides this the Prince Regent
even then, in order to remedy the most
crying evils, had instituted an important
reform on his own authority. Hitherto
there had been few or no permanent staffs
for the Landwehr regiments ; so that on a
fresh mobihsation the troops could not
be placed in the ranks as soon as they were
called out, but had first to be formed into
regiments. Such a state of things seems
incredible at the present day.
At the demobilisation of 1859, the Prince
Regent directed that the recently formed
staffs of the Landwehr regiments should be
kept up. This change could not, however,
go far enough ; for since the members of
the Landwehr were bound to be dismissed,
those staffs consisted mostly of officers
only, and were not sufficient to form the
basis of a powerful new organisation. The
attention of William L was now directed
to this point. But the War Minister of the
day, Bonin, was too timid to undertake
the responsibility of the necessary mea-
sures, and on December 5th, 1859, Roon
had to be summoned in his place.
The new proposal came -before the
Prussian Diet on February loth, i860.
One of the great drawbacks of the existing
constitution of the army
lay in the fact that,
while annually, on the
average, 155,650 men
reached their twentieth
year, only 20,000 men
were enrolled in the army.
Thus twenty-six per cent,
of the young men capable
of bearing arms bore the
whole burden of military
service, which was
especially heavy, since
the obligation to serve
in the Landwehr lasted
to the thirty-ninth year.
The consequence of this
was that in the first levy
of the Landwehr one-half
of the total numbers, and
in the second levy five-
sixths, were married men.
The number of men liable to serve had
remained the same for more than forty
years, although the- population of the
country had increased from ten to eigjiteen
millions. The obligatory period of service
in the standing army, three years with the
colours, two years in the reserve, was too
short for the body of the army. The
5054
Reforming
the Army
of Prussia
COUNT MAXIMILIAN SCHWERIN
Among the Ministry of moderate Liberals
summoned by the Prince Regent in 1858 was
Count Schwerin, Minister of the Interior; a
"new era" was confidently anticipated, and
the public looked to Schwerin for reforms.
government therefore proposed to levy
annually, instead of 40,000 men, 60,000
men — forty per cent., that is, of all those
liable to serve ; while in return the obliga-
tion to serve in the Landwehr was to last
only to the age of thirty-five years. Besides
this, the three years' service in the reserve
was to be raised to five years.
This change signified a considerable
strengthening of the standing army and
a reduction of the Landwehr. This is
shown by the figures of the full war
footing which it was hoped to
reach. The army was intended
henceforth to consist of 371,000
men with the colours, 126,000
men in the reserve, and 163,000 in the
Landwehr. The scheme demanded the
attention of the Diet in two respects.
On the one side a money grant was
necessary, since it was impossible to
enrol the numerous new corps in the old
regiments, and thirty-nine new line regi-
ments had to be raised. An annual sum,
£1,350,000 sterling, was required for the
purpose. Besides this, the existing law as
to military service required to be consider-
ably modified. This applied not merely
to the division of the period of service
between the standing
army and the Landwehr,
but also concerned the
length of compulsory
active service. At that
time, in order to spare
the finances, the soldiers
were often dismissed after
serving two or two and a
half years. King William
did not consider this
period sufficient, and de-
manded the extension of
the period of service to
three, and in the case of
the cavalry to four, years.
Measures of no less im-
portance had then been
taken with regard to the
tactics of the infantry.
After the war of 1859,
there arose the question
of the conclusions to be drawn from the
experiences of the Italian campaign. The
defensive methods of the Austrians had
proved inferior to the offensive tactics of
the more dashing French. The French
had often succeeded, in infantry combats,
in rushing with an impetuous charge under
the Austrian bullets, which had a very
PRUSSIA UNDER KING WILLIAM I.
curved trajectory, and in thus winning the
day. For this reason it was the ordinary
belief in the Austrian army that defensive
tactics must once for all be given up.
The successes ot the French were over-
estimated, and there was a return in
the years 1859-66 to " shock tactics " ;
these attached little importance to the
preliminary musketry —
engagement, and con-
sisted in firing a few '
volleys and then charging
with the bayonet. Many
voices even in the
Prussian army advocated
a similar plan. Colonel
Ollech was sent by the
Prussian General Staff to
France in August, 1859,
in order to investigate
the condition of the
French army. He re-
turned strongly preju-
diced in favour of the
system of shock tactics,
and advised the king to
issue an order, in con-
nection with a similar
order issued by Frederic
the Great for the cavalry, that " every
infantry commander would be brought
before a court-martial who lost a position
without having met the attack of the
enemy by a counter attack."
King William was at all times clever in
discovering prominent men for leading
positions. The chief of the General Staff,
Lieutenant-General Helmuth von Moltke,
clearly saw the risk of this advice. In his
remarks on Ollech's report he laid great
weight on the attacking spirit in an army ;
but he recognised correctly that the needle-
, gun, introduced in 1847, secured
p . ... the Prussians the advantage
rincip e m -^ ^^^^ musketry fighting, and
that in ■ the reorganisation of
the army stress should be laid on that
point. Moltke's principle was that the
infantry should make the fullest use of
their superior firing power at the beginning
of the battle, and should for that purpose
select open country, where the effect of
fire is the greatest. An advance should not
be made before the enemy's infantry were
shattered, and in this movement attacks
on the enemy's flank were preferable.
The Prussians fought in 1866 with these
superior tactics, and they owed to them
a great part of the successes which they
THE HISTORIAN RANKE
Professor of History at Berlin from 1825 till
1872, Leopold von Ranke was the author of
many works dealing with European history.
achieved. The Prussian Landtag did not
mistake the value of the proposals made
by the Government, but raised weighty
objections. The majority agreed to the
extension of the annual recruiting, to the
increase of the officers and under-officers,
and to the discharge of the older members
of the Landwehr. On the other hand, the
• great diminution in the
number of the Landwehr
on a war footing, and the
I resulting reduction of
their importance, but
especially the three-years'
compulsory service,
aroused vigorous oppo-
sition. General Staven-
hagen, who gave evidence
for the proposal, char-
acterised the two-years'
service as sufficient. The
Government recognised
that it could not carry
the Bill relating to com-
pulsory service, and
therefore withdrew it. It
was content to demand
an increase of 9,000,000
thalers — £1,350,000
sterling — in the war Budget, in order to
carry out the increase of the regiments.
The Finance Minister, Baron von Patow,
explained in the name of the Government
that the organisation thus created was
provisional, and would not assume a
definite character until the Government
and the popular representatives had agreed
about the law itself. The Old Liberal
maj ority of the Chamber of Representatives
adopted this middle course, and sanctioned
the required increase. Thus the yearly
budget for the army was raised to
32,800,000 thalers — £4,920,000 sterling, or,
roughly, a quarter of the entire revenue of
130,000,000 thalers — £19,500,000 sterling.
This expedient was manifestly illusory.
The king at once ordered the disbanding
of thirty-six regiments of Landwehr,
whose place was taken by an equal
number of line regiments. Altogether
117 new battalions and twelve new
squadrons were formed. Obviously the
king, who presented colours and badges
to the new regiments on January i8th,
1861, in front of the monument of Frederic
the Great, could not disband these newly
formed units or dismiss their officers.
The Chamber of Representatives became,
in fact, suspicious, but agreed to the
5055
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
irxreased army budget once more for the
next year. Since the elections to the
Landtag were imminent, the final decision
stood over for the new House.
It would be a mistake to treat the events
which followed in the ordinary manner,
relating how the king
was prudent but the
Chamber petty in the
army question, and how
in this struggle the
wisdom of the Regent
fortunately prevailed
over the meddlesomeness
of the professional poli-
ticians. The state of
affairs was quite other-
wise. The dispute in the
matter itself was not
indeed beyond settle-
ment. In case of necessity
it would have been
possible to arrive at a
compromise as to the
amount of compulsory
service, and the Prussian
army would hardly have
been less effective if
the two-years' military
service had been intro-
duced then and not post-
poned until after the
death of Emperor
Wihiam I. This consideration does not in
any way lessen the credit due to the king.
But, as the new elections showed, there
was another and greater issue at stake.
The influence of Liberal ideas in Europe
was precisely then at its height, and public
opinion tended towards the view that the
royal power in Prussia must be checked,
exactly as it had been in that model
parliamentary state, England. The citizen
class had then, it was thought, come to
years of maturity, and it possessed a right
to take the place of the monarchy and
nobility in the power hitherto enjoyed by
them. At the new elections, on December
6th, 1861, the Progressive party, in which
the members of the movement of 1848
assumed the lead, was formed in opposition
to the Old Liberals, who had left their
stamp on the former Chamber. This
political group had not yet the whole
electorate on its side ; it carried a hundi'ed
seats, barely a third of the whole Assembly.
The Old Liberals felt themselves mean-
while outstripped, especially since the
king no longer extended his confidence to
5056
FIELD - MARSHAL ROON
Entering the Prussian array n 1^21, he re-
vealed a thorough grasp of military matters,
and his reorganisation of the army found
brilliant justification in the success of the
national arms in the wars of 1866 and 1870-1.
I'roin a pliotOi^caph
the Liberal Ministers, who were defeated
on the army question. While this
change was being effected among the
citizen class, the nobility and the
Conservative party on the other hand,
who had been greatly chagrined at being
dismissed from the helm
of state after the assump-
tion of the regency by
the prince, put forward
their claim not less reso-
lutely. The great services
of the Prussian nobility
to the army and the ci\nl
service, to which, both
ii before and after, it sup-
plied first - class men,
could not, of course, be
disputed. But to justifi-
able pride at this fact
was joined such intense
class prejudice that even
a man like Roon could
not for a long time bring
himself to recognise the
justification of an elected
representation of the
people. General Man-
teuffel, as chief of the
royal military cabinet,
worked with him in the
same spirit. Ernst von
Gerlach and Hermann
Wagener represented in the " Kreuz-
zeitung " similar views. Karl Twesten,
one of the most prominent members of
the Liberal party, called General Man-
teuffel a mischievous man in a mis-
chievous position — ^^a taunt which Man-
teuffel answered by a challenge to a duel,
in which Twesten was wounded.
The Liberal ^Ministers saw with concern
how the king inclined more and more
towards the paths of the Conservative
party. They counselled him, in
view of the impending struggle
over the military question, to
conciliate public opinion by
undertaking reforms in various depart-
ments of the legislature. Roon vigorously
opposed this advice, which he saw to
be derogatory to the Crown. He induced
the king on March ist, 1861, to adjourn
these Bills, which had already been settled
upon. He unceasingly urged the king
to dismiss his Liberal colleagues and to
adopt strong measures. In a memorial
laid before the king, dated April, 1861,
he wrote of the Hohenzollern-Schwerin
Rood's
Advice to
the King
PRUSSIA UNDER KING WILLIAM I.
Prussian
Conservatives
in Power
Cabinet, in which, nevertheless, he himself
had accepted a seat, that "it is only
compatible with the pseudo-monarchy of
Belgium, England, or of Louis Philippe,
not with a genuinely Prussian monarchy
by the grace of God, with a monarchy
according to your ideas. People have
tried to intimidate your Majesty by the
loud outcry of the day. All the unfortunate
monarchs of whom history tells have so
fared ; the phantom ruined them, simply
because they believed in it."
The opposition was apparent
as soon as the new Chamber
assembled on January 14th,
1862. Opponents of the proposal were
elected on the commission for. discussing
the Army Bill in a large majority. When
the Budget was discussed, a resolution
was adopted which called for more precise
details of the state finances. This was a
reasonable demand, and was soon after-
wards conceded by Bismarck. But the
Conservative advisers of the king then
stigmatised the wish as an encroachment
on the rights of the Crown, and the
Chamber of Representa-
tives was dissolved on
March i8th, 1862, after
a short term of life. At
the same time the Liberal
Ministry was dismissed.
Its place was taken by
a Cabinet in which
officials preponderated,
but which, on the whole,
bore a Conservative
character. It is certainly
to the credit of Roon and
Manteuffel that their in-
fluence on the king paved
the way for Bismarck.
But they made the be-
ginning of his term of
office more difficult for
the great Minister, since
he was at once drawn
into the most violent
antagonism to popular
representation. The
question must be raised
whether Prussia, with
her great military and
intellectual superiority,
would not have obtained the same results
if there had been no such rupture with
public opinion. The Crown Prince Frederic
WiUiam held this view, and it was shared
not only by Albert, the English Prince
CROWN PRINCE FREDERIC
The only son of William I., he married Vic-
toria, Princess Royal of England, in 1858. A
man of courage, he opposed the reactionary
policy of Bismarck, and fought with distinc-
tion in the various wars waged by Prussia.
From a photoj^raph
Consort, but also by the king's son-in-law,
the Grand Duke Frederic of Baden, who
just then was reforming his country with
the help of the Liberal Ministers, Baron
Franz von Roggenbach and Karl Mathy.
Men of a similar type would have gladly
co-operated to help King William to gain
the imperial crown. King William him-
self felt that, in consequence of his quarrel
with the Chamber, many sincere friends of
Prussia were mistaken as to his country's
German mission. This point was em-
phasised even in the National Assembly.
In order to counteract this tendency,
the king had appointed Bernstorff, who
advocated the union of Germany under
the leadership of Prussia, to be Minister
of Foreign Affairs in the place of Schleinitz,
who held legitimist views. Bernstorff
adopted, in fact, most vigorous measures,
M'hen several states of the German Zoll-
verein, on the conclusion of the Free-Trade
commercial treaty with France, threatened
that they would in consequence withdraw
from the Zollverein. They found a sup-
porter in Austria, who would gladly have
broken up the Zollverein ;
but they were forced to
yield to Prussia, since
their own economic
interests dictated their
continuance in the Zoll-
verein. Bernstorff
furthermore, in a note
addressed to the German
courts on December 20th,
1861, announced as a
programme the claim of
Prussij^ to the leadership
of Lesser Germany. By
this step the Berlin
Cabinet reverted to the
policy of union which
had been given up in
1850. The party of
Greater Germany col-
lected its forces in oppo-
sition. Austria resolved
to anticipate Prussia by
a tangible proposition to
the Diet, and proposed
federal reforms : that a
directory with corre-
sponding central autho-
rity should be established, and by its side
an assembly of delegates from the popular
representatives of the several states. But,
before this proposal should be agreed to,
steps were to be taken to elaborate a
5057
HARIvISWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
of Radical
Libaralism
common system of civil procedure and con-
tract law for the whole of Germany. Both
the Prussian note and the Austrian pro-
posal met with opposition and a dissentient
majority in the Federal Diet at Frank-
fort, for the secondary states did not
wish to relinquish any part of their
sovereignty in favour of either the Prus-
sian or the Austrian Govern-
^/ol'l.l^rr iTient. The necessary con-
dition for the success of the
Prussian policy would have
been a majority in a German Parliament
on the side of Prussia, as in 1849. But Bern-
storff, although in his heart he favoured
the plan, could not advise the king to
summon a National Assembly, because, as
things then stood, its majority would
have approved of the opposition of the
Prussian progressive party.
In the new elections to the Chamber of
Representatives Radical Liberalism gained
the greatest number of seats. The two
sections of this party numbered together
235 members — two-thirds, that is, of the
352 representatives of the Landtag ; the
Old Liberals under the leadership of
Vincke had dwindled to 23 votes. The new
majority gladly accepted the challenge
fiung to them ; for the idea, which Roon
had erroneously termed the ultimate goal
even of the moderate Liberals, was actively
dominant among them. They wished for
no compromise, biit aimed at the subordi-
nation of the king to the Parliament. The
examples of England and Belgium domi-
nated their plans in every detail.
The army question became the out-
ward pretext on which the two consti-
tutional theories came into conflict with
each other. Since the king did not con-
cede the two years' compulsory service,
which the .Chamber demanded as a con-
dition of the army reform, the House
resolved, on September 23rd, 1862, to
strike out entirely -the costs oS the
reform, which was tantamount to dis-
banding the new regiments.
^ ° Li this way a humiliation was
th^'ic'" ^^^^ *^^ ^^^® l-^ii^g. which was
"^^ intended to bend or break him.
King William was resolved rather to
lay down the Crown than to submit to a
compulsion by which, according to his
view, he would have been degraded to
the position of a puppet ruler. He
seriously contemplated this step, when the
Ministry of Hohenlohe, seeing no way out
of the difficulty, asked to be dismissed.
5058
The king doubted whether men would be
found bold enough to confront the Cham-
ber of Representatives. Whenever Roon
and Manteuffel had formerly spoken of
Bismarck, the king had hesitated to en-
trust the government to a man whom he
considered to be a hot-head. Now, he told
Roon, Bismarck would no longer enter-
tain any wish to be at the head of affairs ;
besides that, he happened to be on leave,
travelling in Southern France.
Roon, however, could assure the king
that Bismarck, who had been already
recalled, was prepared to enter the service
of the king. vSoon afterwards the latter
learned that Bismarck had, immediately on
his return, paid a visit, by invitation, to
the Crown Prince. King William's sus-
picions were aroused by this, and he
thought, " There is nothing to be done
with him ; he has already been to my son."
All doubts, however, were dissipated
when Bismarck appeared before him and
unfolded his scheme of government. The
king showed him the deed of abdication,
which he had already drafted, because, so
he said, he could not find another Ministry.
Bismarck encouraged him by
the assurance that he intended
Bismarck's
Rise
p to stand by him in the struggle
between the supremacy of the
Crown and of Parliament. On the day when
the Chamber of Representatives passed the
resolution by which the monarch felt him-
self most deeply wounded, on September
23rd, 1862, the nomination of Bismarck as
President of the Ministry was published.
Bismarck's work is the establishment of
the unity of Germany no less than the
revival of the power of the monarchy
and of all conservative forces in that
country. His contemporaries have passed
judgment upon him according to their
political attitudes. Those who regarded
the advancing democratisation of Great
Britain and France as equally desirable
for Germany, and as the ultimate goal of
its development, were bound to see an
opponent in the powerful statesman. A
difficult legal question was put before
Bismarck at the very outset of his
activity. He counselled the king to
disregard the Budget rights of the
Chamber of Representatives.
For the historical estimate of Bismarck
it is not of primary importance whether
the constitutional arguments which he
employed on this occasion are tenable
or not; this legal question must certainly
PRUSSIA UNDER KING WILLIAM I.
be decided against him. He took his
stand on the ground that the Budget
was, according to the constitution, a
law on which the Crown, the Upper
Chamber, and the Chamber of Representa-
tives must agree ; and that tlie authors of
the Prussian constitution had on this point
reversed the practice of England, where
money grants are exclusively the province
of the Lower House. They had not pro-
vided for the event that the three might
not be able to agree and the law could thus
not be passed ; there was therefore an
omission. But since the state could not
stand still, a constitutional deadlock had
resulted, which would be fatal unless
the Budget for the year were provided
by the arbitrary action of the Crown.
The consequence of this theory was
that the Crown could enforce all the
larger Budget demands, even though
the two Chambers had pronounced in
favour of the smaller sum. From this
point of view every theory turned on the
exercise of the powers of the constitu-
tional authorities. In the great speech in
which the Prussian Minister-President
_. , explained his views, he con-
DaTtrour fronted the Chamber with his
angcrous pQ^i^ica^l principles : " The
Declaration £v • ^ f , , ,
Prussian monarchy has not yet
fulfilled its mission ; it is not yet ripe to
form a purely ornamental decoration of the
fabric of your constitution, nor to be in-
corporated into the mechanism of parlia-
mentary rule as an inanimate piece of the
machinery." Even the king wavered for
a moment when Bismarck in the Budget
commission of the Chamber of Representa-
tives, September 30th, 1862, made his
famous assertion that " the union of
Germany could not be effected by speeches,
societies, and the resolutions of majorities ;
a grave struggle was necessary, a struggle
that could only be carried through by
blood and iron." Even Roon considered
this phrase as dangerous.
The state was administered for four
years without a constitutionally settled
Budget. The Chamber of Representatives
declared this procedure illegal, and great
excitement prevailed throughout the
country. In order to suppress the oppo-
sition, strict enactments were published
on June ist, 1863, which were directed
against the freedom of the Press and of the
societies. At this period the Crown Prince
Frederic William joined the opponents
of Bismarck, because he thought the
The Crown
Prince Criticises
Bismarck
procedure of the Ministers might provoke
a new revolution in Prussia. He made a
speech on June 5th, in the town hall at
Danzig when receiving the municipal
authorities, which was directed against the
Government : "I, too, regret that I have
come here at a time when a quarrel, of
which I have been in the highest
degree surprised to hear,
has broken out between
the Government and the
people. I know nothing
of the enactments which have brought
about this result." The Crown Prince at
the same time sent a memorandum to the
king to the same effect ; but on June 30th
he wrote to the Minister-President a letter
full of indignation and contempt, which
would have shaken the resolution of any
other man than Bismarck : " Do you believe
that you can calm men's minds by con-
tinual outrages on the feeling of legality ?
I regard the men who lead his Majesty
the king, my most gracious father, into
such paths as the most dangerous
counsellors for Crown and country."
The king was deeply hurt at the public
appearances of his son ; he contemplated
harsh measures against him, and Bismarck
was compelled to dissuade him from his
purpose. The Minister reminded the king
that in the quarrel between Frederic
William I. and his son the sympathy of
the times, as well as of posterity, had been
with the son ; and he showed the inad vis-
ability of making the Crown Prince a
martyr. Thus the situation in Prussia
seemed to be strained to the breaking
point. The Representative Chamber
adopted in 1863, by a large majority, the
resolution that Ministers should be liable
out of their private fortune for any
expenditure beyond the Budget.
It is marvellous with what independence
and intellectual vigour Bismarck guided
foreign policy in the midst of these com-
motions. We need only examine the pages
. , of history from 1850 to 1862
Prussia s ^^ ^^^ ^j^^^.^y j^^^^, ^^^^i^
. u.*^.^ Prussia counted as a European
,n History p^^^^. j^ ^^^^^^^ -^ ^^^_
sequence of the vacillation of Frederic
William IV., a feeble role, especially at
the time of the Crimean War. Even later,
when William I. was governing the country
as prince regent and as king, Cavour,
who was continually forced to rack his
brains with the possibilities which might
effect a change in the policy of France and
5059
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Austria, Great Britain and Russia, hardly
took Prussia into consideration. That
state, during the Itahan crisis of i860, had
httle more weight than a Power of the
second rank — only about as much as
Spain, of which it was occasionally said
that it would strengthen or relieve the
French garrison in Rome with its troops.
Great as are the services of
King William to the army and
Bismarck
an Object of
Ridicule
the State of Prussia, he could
not have attained such great
successes without a man like Bismarck.
Considering the feebleness of Prussia,
which had been the object of ridicule
for years, every one was, at first, surprised
by the vigorous language of Bismarck.
When, in one of the earliest Cabinet
councils, he broached the idea that Prussia
must watch for an opportunity of acquir-
ing Schleswig-Holstein, the Crown Prince
raised his hands to heaven, as if the orator
had uttered some perfectly foolish thing,
and the clerk who recorded the proceed-
ings thought he would be doing a favour
to Bismarck if he omitted the words ; the
latter was obliged to make the additional
entry in his own writing.
The newspapers and political tracts of
that time almost entirely ridicule the atti-
tude of the new Minister, whom no one
credited with either the serious intention or
the strength to carry out his programme.
His contemporaries were therefore only
confirmed in their contempt for him when,
on November 26th, 1862, he suddenly ended
the constitutional struggle in Electoral
Hesse, which had lasted several decades,
by sending an orderly to the Elector
Frederic William, with the peremptory
command that he should give back to the
country the constitution of 1831.
And now came his amazing conversation
with the Austrian Ambassador, Count Aloys
Karolyi. Austria, shortly before, without
coming to terms with Prussia, had brought
before the Assembly in Frankfort the pro-
. I .. r posal already mentioned for
Bombshell of ^ -^
the "Terrible
Bismarck
,, federal I'eform. Bismarck, in
that conversation, taunted
Austria with having deviated
from the method of Prince Metternich,
who came *.o a previous arrangement with
Prussia as to all measures concerning
German affairs ; and he declared to the
count that Austria would soon have to
choose between the alternatives of vacating
Germany and shifting its political centre
to the east, or of finding Prussia in the
5060
next war on the side of its opponents.
This assertion fell like a bombshell on
Vienna. Count Rechberg was not so
wrong when he talked of the " terrible "
Bismarck, who was capable of doing any-
thing for the greatness of Prussia.
The two great parties in Germany were
organised at the precise moment when
Bismarck entered upon office. A Diet of
representatives from the different German
Parliaments, which was attended by some
200 members, met at Weimar on Sep-
tember 28th, 1862. This assembly de-
manded the svimmons of a German
Parliament by free popular election, and
the preliminary concentration of non-
Austrian Germany ; to begin v/ith, at
any rate, Austria would have to remain
outside the more restricted confederation.
This assembly and the activity of the
National Society led on the other side to
the formation of the Greater Germany
Reform Society, which came into existence
at Frankfort. It demanded a stricter
consolidation of the German states under
the leadership of Austria. The narrow
particularism of the princes and their
-, immediate followers, who were
e rea cr ^j^^jjjjj^g ^q sacrifice for the
ermany welfare of the whole body any
Movement „ ,, . , r .-, ■ -,-
of the sovereignty of the indi-
vidual states, kept aloof from these efforts.
Their underlying thought was expressed by
the Hanoverian Minister, Otto, Count
Borries, who, when opposing the efforts of
the National Society on May ist, i860,
went so far as to threaten that the
secondary states would be forced into
non-German alliances in order to safe-
guard their independence.
The Greater Germany movement gained
adherents not merely by the constitutional
struggle in Prussia but also by the move-
ment towards liberalism in Austria. The
absolute monarchy, which had ruled in
Austria since 1849, ended with a defeat
on the battlefield and the most complete
financial disorder. The pressure of the
harsh police regulations weighed all the
more heavily, as the state organs, since the
conclusion of the concordat with Rome,
were put equally at the service of eccle-
siastical purposes. The discontent of
every nationality in the empire impelled
the emperor, after Solferino, June 24th,
1859, ^'^ make a complete change. It
would have been the natural course of
proceedings if the emperor had at once
resolved to consolidate the unity of the
PRUSSIA UNDER KING WILLIAM I.
Empire, which had been regained in 1849,
by summoning a General Parhament. But
the Crown, and still more the aristocracy,
were afraid that in this imperial repre-
sentation the German bourgeoisie would
come forward with excessive claims. For
this reason an aristocratic interlude
followed. Count Goluchowski, a Pole,
hitherto Governor of Galicia, became
Minister of the Interior on August 2ist, 1859,
while Count Rechberg, who had already
succeeded Count Buol as Minister of the
Interior and of the Imperial House on May
17th, was given the post of President.
The administrative business of the
entire monarchy was, by the imperial
manifesto of October 20th, i860, concen-
trated in a new body, the National
Ministry, at whose head Goluchowski was
placed, while the conduct of Hungarian
affairs was entrusted to Baron Nikolaus
Bay and Count Nikolaus Szecsen ; at the
same time orders were issued that the
provincial councils — Landtage — and a
council of the empire elected from them —
Reichsrat — should be summoned. These
bodies were, however, only to have a
deliberative voice ; and besides
Hungary on
the Verge
of Rebellion
that, a preponderant influence
in the provincial bodies was
assigned to the nobility and the
clergy. It was a still more decisive step
that the members of the conservative
Hungarian haute noblesse, in their aver-
sion to German officialism, induced the
emperor once more to entrust the adminis-
tration of Hungary and the choice of
officials to the assemblies of nobles, known
as " county courts," as had been the case
before the year 1848. These measures
produced a totally different result from
that anticipated by Bay and Szecsen.
The meetings of the county courts, which
had not been convened since 1849, were
filled with a revolutionary spirit, and,
while offering at once the most intense
opposition, refused to carry out the
enactments of the Ministers, because, so
they alleged, the constitutionally elected
Reichstag was alone entitled to sanction
taxation ; and they chose officials who
refused to collect taxes, or only did so in
a dilatory fashion. The country in a few
months bordered on a state of rebellion.
As the Hungarian Ministers of the em-
peror had plunged the Empire into this
confusion, they were compelled to advise
him to entrust a powerful personality
from the ranks of the high German officials
with the conduct of affairs, Anton
von Schmerling was nominated Minister
of Finance on December 17th, i860,
in the place of Goluchowski. He won over
the emperor to his view, which was
unfavourable to the Hungarians, and
carried his point as to maintaining one
united constitution and the summoning
TV w , of a central parliament. He
The Magyars 1 i .1 ^^ i- ■, ^
p ... , proposed also that a limited
iLxpectations of ^ ^ , , , , , ,
Independence ^^°P^ ^^^°"^^ ^^ conceded
to the diets of the individual
provinces. These were the fundamental
principles of the constitution granted on
February 26th, 1861. Schmerling deserves
credit for having restored the prestige of
the constitution in Hungary without blood-
shed, even if severe measures were used.
The county assemblies were dissolved,
and trustworthy native officials sub-
stituted for them. The vacillation of the
emperor in i860 strengthened, however,
the conviction of the Magyars that in the
end the Crown would yield to their oppo-
sition, and once more concede the inde-
pendence of Hungary in the form in
which it was won by the constitution of
April, 1848. The leadership of this
opposition in the Landtag summoned in
1861 was taken by Franz Deak ; the
Landtag, in the address which was agreed
upon, refused to send representatives
to the central Parliament, and complete
independence was demanded for Hungary.
Schmerling advanced unhesitatingly on
the road which he had taken. At the
same time he won great influence over the
management of German affairs, and for
some period was more powerful in that
sphere than the Minister of the Exterior,
Count Rechberg. The Matter considered it
prudent to remain on good terms with
Prussia, and not to stir up the German
question. Schmerling, on the other hand,
put higher aims before himself, and wished
to give Germany the desired federal
reform, and to strengthen Austria's influ-
ence in Germany by the estab-
hshment of a strong central
Austria's
Influence in
_ power in Frankfort. He hoped
ermany ^^ overcome the resistance of
Prussia by help of the popular feeling in
non-Prussian Germany. He enlisted
confidence in Germany also by the intro-
duction of constitutional forms in Austria.
Austria tried to sweep the German
princes along with her in one bold rush.
The emperor, in deference to a suggestion
of his brother-in-law, Maximilian, the
5061
HARMS WORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
hereditary prince of Thurn and Taxis,
resolved to summon all German princes
to a conference at Frankfort-on-Main, and
to lay before them . his plan of reform.
The King of Prassia
in this matter was
not treated differently
from the pettiest and
weakest of the Federal
princes. The emperor
communicated his in-
tention to King William,
at their meeting in
Gastein on August 2nd,
1863, and, without
waiting for the stipu-
lated written decision
of the king, handed
him by an adjutant on
August 3rd the formal
invitation to the Diet
of Princes summoned
for August i6th.
The blow aimed by
Austria led to a tem-
porary success. Public
opinion in South Ger
■l
P^^M
^K
^ -^^
^1
^^^m^mPf^
"^^^Sj^^^H
1^ ^n-^
r X ^^B^H
■■^^^gl^^Kg
^m^^f
KING JOHN OF SAXONY
Under this king, who reigned from 1854 till 1873, and
but made two additional proposals, which
were not quite friendly to Prussia. He first
induced the meeting to declare that it
considered the Austrian proposals suitable
as a basis for reform;
and it was also, soon
settled that the refusal
of the King of Prussia
was no obstacle to
further deliberation.
After these resolutions,
which were taken on
August iSth, King
John went to Baden-
Baden, in order to
take the invitation to
the King of Prussia.
King William did
not seem disinclined
to accept the invi-
tation, and said to
Bismarck : " Thirty
princes sending the
invitation, and a king
as Cabinet messenger,
how can there be any
uiiuer Liiis King, wiiu xcigiicu iiuiii loo-t till ±0. o, diiu . 1 -\ JJ o 4. TD '
who was distinguished for learning and culture, many rCIUSai . XjUL IjIS-
many was aroused, and schemes for the betterment of the people of Saxony mai'ck saw that this
in some places became ^"« introduced, while the army was reformed, gurprisc, planned by
enthusiastic ; the sovereigns and princes
gave their services to the Austrian reform.
All this made a deep impression on King
William ; the Bavarian queen, Marie, and
her sister-in-law, the widow of King
Frederic William IV., urged him on his
journey from Gastein to Baden-Baden
to show a conciliatory attitude towards
the Austrian proposal. Never-
theless he followed Bis-
marck's advice, and kept
away from the gieeting at
Frankfort. The Emperor
Francis Joseph made his
entry into the Free Town
amid the pealing of the bells
and the acclamations of the
inhabitants, who favoured
the Austrian cause. He skil-
fully presided over the debate
of the princes, and King John
of Saxony, 1854-1873, an
experienced man of business
and an eloquent speaker, anton von schmerling
Austria, was a blow aimed at Prussia,
and he would have felt deeply humiliated
by the appearance of his monarch at
Frankfort. Germany was to see that
any alteration of the German constitu-
tion must prove abortive from the mere
opposition of Prussia. Bismarck required
all his strength of will to induce William
-J to refuse ; he declared that
if the king commanded him,
he would go with him to
Frankfort, but that when
the business was ended he
would never return with him
to Berlin as Minister. The
king, therefore, took his
advice. What Bismarck had
foreseen now occurred. It
is t ue that the Austrian
proposal was in the end
discussed and accepted,
against the votes of Baden,
Schwerin, Weimar, Luxem-
burg, Waldeck, and the
confuted the protests which thi" prestige ^rthl' consutudon younger line of Reuss. But
were preferred by a small in Hungary without bloodshed, since the meeting only
minority. The Grand Duke Frederic
Francis II. of Mecklenburg-Schwerin pro-
posed to invite King William to make the
journey to Frankfort. King John assented,
5062
pledged itself in the event of an
agreement with Prussia as the basis
of these resolutions, Austria had failed
in the achievement of her main result.
THE
RE- MAKING
OF
E J ROPE
THE
CONSOLIDA-
TION OF THE
POWERS VI
PRUSSIA & AUSTRIA Te EVE OF WAR
THE FATE OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
Denmark's
ALL these debates and intrigues between
Prussia and Austria sank into the
background when the fate of ^chleswig-
Holstein was destined to be decided
by arms. The occasion for this was
given by the death of the Danish king,
Frederic VIL, on November 15th; 1863,
with whom the main Une of the royal
house became extinct. The collateral
line of Holstein-Gliicksburg possessed the
hereditary right to Denmark, while the
House of Augustenburg raised claims to
Schleswig-Holstein. All Germany thought
that the moment had come to free Schles-
wig-Holstein from the Danish rule by
supporting the Duke of Augustenburg.
The two great German Powers were, how-
ever, pledged in another direction by the
Treaty of London.
Denmark had expressly engaged by that
arrangement to grant Schleswig-Holstein
an independent government ; on this
basis the Great Powers on their
side guaranteed the possession
71"^ i- of the duchies to the King of
the Duchies TA 1 J 11 1 •
Denmark and all his suc-
cessors. The two great German Powers
were to blame for having compelled the
inhabitants of Schleswig-Holstein in 1850
to submit to Denmark. From hatred of
Liberalism and all the mistakes it was sup-
posed to have made in 1848, tliey destroyed
any hopes which the inhabitants of
Schleswig-Holstein might have formed for
the future, after the royal house should
have become extinct. Duke Christian of
Augustenburg sold his hereditary rights to
Denmark for 2,250,000 thalers — £500,000 —
although his son Frederic protested. But
Denmark did not think of fulfilling her
promise. The German Federation was con-
tent for years to remonstrate and propose
a court of arbitration. Finally, the Federal
Council resolved on armed intervention
against Denmark. Hanoverian and Saxon
troops occupied Holstein, but they were
forced to halt on the Eider, as Schleswig
did not belong to the Federation.
In Copenhagen the Eider-Danish party
drew peculiar conclusions from these
circumstances ; since, they said, Schles-
wig did not belong to the Federation, the
Treaty of • London might be disregarded,
the bond between Schleswig and Holstein
_,_,,. dissolved, and Schleswig, at
Duke Frederic , ^ 4. j ■ j.
„. any rate, amalgamated mto
^"^ *^ . the unified State of Denmark.
Supporters^, , , . ,
1 hreatenmg crowds forced
the new monarch. Christian IX., in spite
of his superior insight, to consent to the
united constitution. The Treaty of London
was to all intents and purposes broken.
The claim of Duke Frederic of Augusten-
burg to Schleswig-Holstein was thus unani-
mously applauded by the popular voice of
Germany. He declared himself ready to
follow loyally the democratic constitution
which the duchies had given themselves in
1848, and surrounded his person with
liberal counsellors. A large proportion of
the governments of the petty German
states recognised the duke as the heir,
and the majority of the Federal Council
decided in his favour.
Prussia and Austria, indeed, as signa-
tories of the Treaty of London, felt them-
selves bound by it towards Europe. They
possessed, according to it, the right to
compel Denmark to grant to the duchies
independence and union under one sove-
reign ; but they could exempt themselves
from recognising the hereditary right of
King Christian IX. Austria in particular,
whose stability rested on European treaties,
did not venture to admit that the right of
nationality could undo those treaties.
Was Prussia able to confront
the other Great Powers with her
unaided resources ? Bismarck,
with all his determination,
thought such a move too dangerous. The
stake in such a struggle would have been
too trivial ; for, as Bismarck showed the
Prussian House of Representatives, Prus-
sia would have lent its arms to establish the
claims of a duke who, like the ot.ber petty
'=;o6h
Prussia
Against the
Powers
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
states, would have mostly voted with
Austria at Frankfort. " The signing of the
Treaty of London," so Bismarck said on
December ist, 1863, in the Prussian House
of Representatives, " may be deplored ;
but it has been done, and honour as well
as prudence commands that our loyal
observance of the treaty be
beyond all doubt." These
reasons did not, however, con-
vince the House. It pro-
nounced in favour of the
hereditary right of the Duke
of Augustenburg. Bismarck
vainly put before the Opposi-
tion that, as soon as Prussia
abandoned the basis of the
Treaty of London, no pretext
whatever could be found
for interfering in Schleswig,
which stood entirely outside
would have been justified if Bismarck
had still been, as he was m 1848, a man
of exclusively Conservative party politics.
The German people could not know that
he had become a far greater man. He
had now fixed his eye on the acquisition
of the duchies by Prussia, and steered
steadily towards that goal
which King William still con-
sidered unattainable. Just
now he won a great diplo-
matic triumph. Austria, on
the question of the duchies,
was divided from the German
minor states, her allies, and
Bismarck widened the breach.
He explained to the Vienna
Cabinet that Prussia was
resolved to compel Denmark
to respect the Treaty of
London by force of arms, and,
if necessary, single-handed.
Austria now could not and
the German Confederation ^^^^ frederic vii.
The violent opposition of King of Denmark from 1S48, his
the House of Representatives tyrannous rule in Schieswig-Hoi- dared not leave the hberation
_-. , , -^ J , T stein was bitterly resented, and by r r^ i i • j. -i • i
to Bismarck s methods was his death, in 1863, the main line of ot bchlcswig to her rival
due to the fact that the Con- *^^ '°y^^ ^°"^^ ^^""^""^ ^^""^*' alone, otherwise she would
servative party, to which Bismarck had have voluntarily abdicated her position
belonged, had in 1849 and 1850 condemned in Germany. Rechberg, who in any case
the rebehion of Schleswig-Holstein against was favourably disposed to the alliance
Denmark ; and there was the fear that with Prussia, induced his master, under
the supporters of legitimacy would once the circumstances, to conclude the armed
more in the end make the duchies subject alliance with Prussia ; Francis Joseph
to Denmark. As a matter of fact, the two was, however, disappointed that the Diet
great German Powers had at Frankfort and the anti-
tolerated the infringements of j^^^ • \ Prussian policy had borne no
the Treaty of London by Mt^'^- \^^^ fruits. The two Great Powers
Denmark since 1852, and had ^K .. . -^ pledged themselves in the
not contributed at all to pre- ^ff ^^ *^ treaty of January i6th, 1864,
serve the rights of the duchies. "^3^ Jfikl ^° attack Denmark, and
This explains the blame laid t/k^^W settled that after the libera-
upon the two Great Powers by . ^^ffta tion of the duchies no
the committee ol an assembly , ^^^kl^^l^ decision should be taken
of representatives at Frank- \,,^^^^^B^^^ about them except by the
fort on December 21st, 1863, ^^^^^^^^B^^^^ agreement of the two Powers,
in an address to the German ^^^^^^^^^^^^' Austria thus felt protected
people. For twelve years, it ^^[^^^^^^^^ against surprises on the part
said, the Danes had been ^^^^l^^^ of Prussia. The treaty met
allowed to trample under foot king christian ix. with the most violent opposi-
the Treaty of London. Now, He succeeded to the throne of tion both in the Prussian and
• , 1 ,1 , • , • c ,\ Denmark in 1S63, on the death of , , . , • , . •
With the extinction of the Frederic vii. His eldest daughter, the Austriau representative
royal house, and the revival ^ll''^?!''^' To ''•'5'^ ^'"f ?^7'"'f assemblies. The money for
■^ , ' ,. . vii. of Great Britam and Ireland. J
of the hereditary right of i-rom a photoi^r.,,,!, the conduct ol the war was
Augustenburg, the possibility had come actually refused in Berlin. The Austrian
of getting rid of the shameful treaty.
" Now, when the execution of that treaty
would be fatal to the cause of the duchies,
armies were being put into the field in
order to enforce its execution." This
reproach against the Prussian policy
5064
Chamber did not proceed to such extreme
measures, but the majority held it to be a
mistake that Austria adopted a hostile
position against the minor states, and
neglected the opportunity to make a friend
of the future Duke of Schleswig-Holstein.
THE FATE OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
The army to conquer Sclileswig con-
sisted of 37,000 Pmssians and 23,000
Austrians, who were opposed by 40,000
Danes. The supreme command of the
invading force was held by Count Wrangel.
The Danes hoped to the last for foreign
help, but the threats of England to the
German Powers were smoke without a fire.
The Danes first attempted resistance along
the Danewerk. But the Austrians in the
battles of Jagel and Okerselk, on February
3rd, stormed the outposts in front of the
redoubts and pur-
sued the Danes
right under the
cannons of the
Danewerk. Since
there was the
fear that the
strong position
would be turned
by the Prussians
below Missunde.
the Danish
general, De Meza,
ev^acuated the
Danewerk on
February 5th,
and withdi'ew
northwards. The
Austrians fol-
lowed quickly
and came up
with the Danes
the next day at
Oeversee, and
compelled them
to fight for their
retreat. Scliles-
wig was thus
conquered with
the exception of
a small peninsula
on the east ,
where the lines
of Diippel were
raised, which
were in touch with the island of
and the powerful Danish fleet. Prussia
proposed then to force the Danes to
conclude peace by an investment of Jilt-
land. The Austrian Cabinet could not at
first entertain this plan. General Man-
teuffel, who was sent to Vienna, only
carried his point when Prussia gave a
promise that Schleswig-Holstein should
not be wrested from the suzerainty of the
Danish crown ; on the contrary, the inde-
pendent duchies were to be united with
FREDERIC VII. OF
Denmark by a personal union. The allies
thereupon conquered Jiitland as far as the
Liim Fiord, and by storming the lines of
Diippel, on April i8th, the Prussian arms
won a brilliant success, and the blockade of
the mouths of the Elbe was relieved by the
sea-fight of Heligoland on May 9th, 1864.
The future of the duchies was now the
question. Popular opinion in Germany
protested loudly against their restoration
to the Danish king, and Bismarck now fed
the flame of indignation, since he wished
to release Prussia
from the promise
she had made.
But he would not
have attained
this object had
not the Danes,
fortunately for
Germany, re-
mained obsti-
nate. A con-
ference of the
Powers con-
cerned met in
London on April
25th, 1864. The
Danish pleni-
potentiaries, still
hoping for British
support, rejected
on May 17th the
proposal of Prus-
sia and Austria
for the constitu-
tional indepen-
dence of the
duchies, even
should their pos-
session be i n -
tended for their
King Christian.
The matter was
thus definitely
decided. Austria
was now com-
pelled to retire from the agreement last
made with Prussia. The Vienna Cabinet,
making a virtue of necessity, resolved to
prevent Schleswig-Holstein from falling to
Prussia by nominating the Duke of August-
enburg. King William had long been in-
clined to this course, if only Duke Frederic
was willing to make some arrangement
with Prussia about his army, as Coburg had
already done ; if he would grant Prussia a
naval station and allow the North Sea
Canal to be constructed ; and if the duchies
5065
DENMARK AND
From a photograph
Alsen
HIS CONSORT
HARMSWORTH HISTORY OF THE WORLD
entered the ZoUverein. The duke woul